Year in review: Top stories from 2019

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  • In September, the U.S. Air Force barred the KC-46 from carrying cargo and passengers. Following the successful installation and testing of a new cargo lock design, the service on Dec. 18 officially declared the problem as “closed.” The original decision followed an incident where the cargo locks on the bottom of the floor of the aircraft became unlocked during a flight, creating concerns that airmen could potentially be hurt or killed by heavy equipment that suddenly bursts free during flight. (Senior Airman Christian Conrad/U.S. Air Force)
  • In the illustrious history of the F-35 fighter jet, add a pony farm outside Berlin as the place where radar-maker Hensoldt claimed the plane’s stealth cover was blown. The German company told Defense News it tracked two F-35s for 150 kilometers following the 2018 Berlin Air Show in late April of that year. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
  • With its sonobuoy supplier disappearing, the Pentagon began preparing funds to find alternatives. Even the U.S. president got involved: In March, he signed a memo invoking the Defense Production Act to declare domestic production for the five types of AN/SSQ sonobuoys “essential to the national defense” and granting the Pentagon authorities to sustain and expand the capability. The Air Force, in anticipation, issued a market research solicitation to find more suppliers. (Lt. Cmdr Alan Johnson/U.S. Navy)
  • Say goodbye to hot meals and indoor toilets. In July, the U.S. Air Force embraced the suck as it considered how it might fight in a war against near-peer adversaries. The service was participating in Operation Rapid Forge, an exercise held in Europe that was meant to test the Air Force’s ability to rapidly deploy to partner nation bases — and in some cases, to live in the spartan conditions airmen could face in a battle with a near-peer adversary like Russia or China. (Sgt. Alexis Washburn-Jasinski/U.S. Army)
  • Documents provided to Defense News revealed issues facing the F-35 fighter jet as it neared a major milestone. One issue in particular stood out to readers: Supersonic speeds could cause big problems for the jet′s stealth coating. (Andy Wolfe/U.S. Navy)
  • More than a quarter of Air Mobility Command’s C-130 Hercules fleet were temporarily removed from service after “atypical” cracking was found. During scheduled depot maintenance, the U.S. Air Force discovered cracking of the lower center wing joint. A total of 123 of 450 C-130H and C-130J aircraft were temporarily grounded while inspections took place. (Yasuo Osakabe/U.S. Air Force)
  • The U.S. Air Force’s acquisition executive told Defense News during an exclusive interview that the service plans to radically alter the acquisition strategy for its next generation of fighter jets. Will Roper said the new approach could require industry to design, develop and produce a new fighter in five years or less. (U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory)
  • The U.S. Navy is taking its first few steps into a radical future, which, if it comes to pass, will upend how the fleet has fought since the Cold War. Then-Rear Adm. Ron Boxall told Defense News, when he was the surface warfare director, about the service’s plan to develop and unleash lethal, unmanned robot ships as a means to counter Chinese maritime advancements and, to a more limited extent, those of Russia. (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
  • Then-Rear Adm. Ron Boxall in May told Defense News that the U.S. Navy is going to get its High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance system, or HELIOS, on the Hawaii-based destroyer Preble in 2021. HELIOS is a 60-kilowatt laser with room to grow to 150 kilowatts. The requirement for the laser stemmed from the proliferation of high-tech, anti-ship cruise missiles that travel at ever-increasing speeds with greater degrees of sophistication. (MC3 Morgan Nall/U.S. Navy)
  • Bell pulled the shroud off its future attack reconnaissance aircraft design for the U.S. Army on Oct. 1. The Bell 360 Invictus is based on 525 technology, but with several key differences, including its size in order to adhere to the Army requirement of 40-foot-diameter rotor blades. (Courtesy of Bell)