September 23, 2026 - No. 38

In This Issue

: U.S. Air Force weighs first new F-16 order since 2005 to fill fighter gap left by aging fleet and limited F-35, F-15EX deliveries 

: The 30 finished Boeing 777-9s parked in Washington that no airline wants to fly 

: What are the details of the Air Force receiving the new Vengeance drone?

: Air Force dubs Collaborative Combat Aircraft FQ-42 Vengeance, FQ-44 Fury

: The New LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM Was Supposed to Cost $77,700,000,000. The Price Is Now 81 Percent More at $140,900,000,000 and the Air Force Is Sweating

: L3Harris says digital KC-135 cockpit upgrade can keep U.S. tanker fleet mission-ready beyond 2050 and reduce sustainment costs

: Boeing says 777-9 testing could extend into 2027 over GE9X issue

: AFA 2026: United States Micro Turbine targets US small jet engine market

: US Air Force boosted B-52 bomber battle readiness by 40% without buying new jets

: A millisecond software glitch led to more than 2,000 cancelled UK flights


 


 


U.S. Air Force weighs first new F-16 order since 2005 to fill fighter gap left by aging fleet and limited F-35, F-15EX deliveries

By Hannah Miller (Defence Industry Europe)
Air
|
September 17, 2026

Photo: U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. Air Force is considering buying newly built F-16 fighters for the first time in more than two decades as it looks for ways to sustain combat capacity across an aging fleet. The aircraft would help cover a capability gap that planned F-35 and F-15EX orders and deliveries are not expected to fill.

Air & Space Forces Magazine reported the potential acquisition, citing sources familiar with the plans. The proposal remains under consideration, with initial orders potentially entering the Air Force’s fiscal 2028 budget request.

Funding would be spread over five years if the service proceeds with the purchase. The size and value of the potential order were not specified.

The Air Force received its last newly built F-16s in 2005 and has since focused on upgrading existing aircraft while transitioning toward the F-35. Renewed U.S. orders would be filled by Lockheed Martin’s F-16 production line in Greenville, extending work at the facility.

The new aircraft may receive the F-16G designation. Their configuration would incorporate improvements being introduced across upgraded F-16C and F-16D fighters, together with elements used on the latest Block 70 version.

Potential equipment includes the AN/ALQ-257 Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite, or IVEWS. The fighters could also carry LITENING LA targeting pods.

The Air Force currently has 826 F-16s, including 484 in active service. The aircraft are 34 years old on average after decades of intensive use in U.S. military operations.
Wear accumulated during those operations is limiting the service’s ability to extend the aircraft’s operating lives. That pressure is increasing the importance of fleet replacement as older fighters approach the end of their available service life.

The F-35 is gradually replacing the F-16 across the Air Force, while the F-15EX is also entering the combat fleet. Current orders and delivery volumes for both aircraft, however, remain below the service’s wider force requirements.

A return to F-16 procurement would give the Air Force another source of newly built fighters while it manages the transition to newer aircraft. It would also revive domestic demand for a production program that has continued in Greenville by serving other customers.



 


 


 


The 30 finished Boeing 777-9s parked in Washington that no airline wants to fly

Story by Steven Walker 



Note: See photos in the original article.


The Boeing 777X is finally beginning to look like a real aircraft rather than an endless certification project, with the 777-9 now around halfway through its planned certification testing and Boeing still targeting first deliveries in 2027. The test fleet has accumulated more than 4,800 flight hours across roughly 1,700 flights, while regulators and Boeing continue working through the remaining Type Inspection Authorizations and the approvals needed for extended operations.


Yet the most interesting 777X story in 2026 is not the certification progress bar. It is the collection of more than 30 completed or substantially completed 777X airframes sitting at locations in Washington State, including Paine Field and Moses Lake, because the earliest production aircraft were built before the final production standard was established. Lufthansa, one of the program's launch customers, now wants Boeing to pay for accepting some of those airplanes, while Emirates has taken an even harder public line on the earliest examples. Let's take a closer look...

The Aircraft Are Finished, But Not Finished Enough
The unusual situation exists because Boeing has been building customer aircraft while simultaneously completing the certification and production work needed to bring the 777-9 into commercial service. That is not necessarily unusual for a program of this scale, but the 777X program has taken so long to reach certification that the gap between the earliest completed airframes and the final production configuration has become particularly significant. The result is a group of large, expensive widebodies that look ready to an observer on the ground but cannot simply be handed to an airline and flown into commercial service.

Reports indicate that more than 30 pre-standard 777-9 aircraft are parked while they await modifications needed to bring them closer to the configuration that Boeing ultimately intends to deliver. These aircraft are therefore not unwanted in the conventional sense, because airlines still want the 777-9 itself, but the earliest examples can carry a substantial financial and operational disadvantage. An airline taking one would effectively be accepting an aircraft that needs additional work before it becomes equivalent to a later production aircraft.

That distinction explains why the headline about airlines refusing to fly the aircraft can be misleading. Lufthansa has not rejected the 777-9 program, and it still has 20 examples on order. Instead, the Star Alliance carrier's Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr has said the airline is discussing with Boeing which early-built aircraft it will accept and which it will not, with financial compensation required if Lufthansa takes aircraft that need to be modernized.


Certification Is Moving, But Slowly
Boeing's latest certification update provides a much more encouraging picture than the parked aircraft might suggest. In July, the company said that the 777-9 had completed 50% of its planned certification testing, with more than 4,800 flight-test hours and roughly 1,700 flights accumulated by the test fleet. Boeing also said that most Type Inspection Authorizations had been granted, leaving further approvals, including those associated with ETOPS demonstrations, among the important remaining steps.

The Boeing 777-9 is now in the later stages of its certification campaign, with Boeing describing the program as focused on closing remaining regulatory requirements rather than discovering whether the aircraft fundamentally works. That difference matters because certification involves thousands of individual compliance items that must be demonstrated, documented, and accepted by regulators, even after an aircraft has accumulated extensive flight test experience. The US manufacturer continues to target first deliveries in 2027, with Lufthansa expecting the first aircraft to arrive during that broader timeframe. The current largest orders for the passenger 777X include Emirates and Qatar Airways, according to the latest data from ch-aviation.

The parallel progress of the 737 MAX 10 also provides some context for how Boeing is approaching the final stretch. The 737 MAX 10 was reported at 98% completion in certification flight testing, having accumulated about 2,060 flight hours across 972 test flights, while the 777-9 remains at a much earlier point in its overall certification workload. The numbers show why a program can appear extremely mature operationally while still having a large amount of regulatory work ahead.

The Icing Tests Show How Detailed Certification Gets
One of the latest examples came in August, when Boeing flew both the 777-9 and 737 MAX 10 through naturally occurring icing conditions. Rather than relying entirely on simulated environments, Boeing's teams searched for clouds containing supercooled water and deliberately positioned the aircraft where ice could accumulate on important aerodynamic surfaces. The 777-9 completed an 8.5-hour flight, while the 737 MAX 10 spent six hours in the relevant conditions.

The testing was designed to examine how the airplanes handled with ice accumulating on the wings, horizontal stabilizers, vertical stabilizers, and other critical areas, with Boeing targeting roughly one to two inches of ice during parts of the campaign. Meteorologists monitored weather systems and helped crews locate suitable conditions, while onboard instrumentation measured the environment and the aircraft's response. Such testing illustrates why certification can take years even after an aircraft has already completed thousands of hours of development flying.

For the Boeing 777-9, the result was encouraging, with test pilots reporting that the aircraft maintained its expected handling characteristics in the icing environment. The aircraft's handling remained consistent enough that the icing would have been difficult to notice without the flight-test instrumentation. That is good news for Boeing, but it does not remove the separate problem involving aircraft already built before the final production standard was established.

Lufthansa Wants Boeing To Share The Cost
Lufthansa is particularly important because it is set to be the 777-9's launch customer and has a direct interest in receiving aircraft as soon as possible without inheriting an avoidable modernization bill. Spohr has confirmed that the airline is in discussions with Boeing over which of the first-built 777-9s it will accept, and he has explicitly linked acceptance of aircraft requiring later modernization to financial compensation from Boeing.

The airline's position closely resembles that of Emirates, which has publicly expressed reluctance to accept the earliest 777-9 examples because of the amount of work needed to bring them to final production standard. Spohr acknowledged that Lufthansa has been less public about the issue but said the situation is essentially the same. For airlines, the concern is not simply whether an early aircraft can eventually be made compliant, but whether taking it creates additional downtime, engineering work, maintenance complexity, and uncertainty compared with receiving a later-built aircraft.


That is why Boeing's compensation discussions matter. If an airline accepts an early-production aircraft and Boeing covers the modernization costs, the aircraft can still become a useful part of the fleet. Without compensation, however, the airline would be absorbing the consequences of receiving an aircraft whose configuration reflects the long development process of the 777X program. Lufthansa's comments therefore suggest the parked aircraft are becoming as much a commercial negotiation as a manufacturing problem.

The Parked Aircraft Are A Legacy Of The Delay
The 777X was supposed to enter service years ago, and that long delay has created an unusual production challenge. Boeing has continued developing the aircraft, 

conducting certification testing and preparing production airplanes while the regulatory process stretched far beyond the original schedule. As a result, Boeing completed some aircraft before it knew exactly what the final certified configuration would require.
That creates a difficult choice for Boeing: leaving the aircraft parked preserves them while the company works through the necessary changes, but every month they remain on the ground adds storage, maintenance, and financing costs. Sending them to customers without the appropriate modifications would create an equally difficult problem, because airlines would have to schedule the additional work and potentially accept lower utilization from brand new aircraft.


The reported fleet of more than 30 parked aircraft therefore represents both a liability and a sign of how far the program has progressed. Boeing would not have dozens of customer-bound 777Xs sitting around if it were still at the early design stage, but it also would not need extensive rework if the earliest production airplanes already matched the final standard. The aircraft are caught between those two realities, waiting for the certification and industrial processes to catch up with their physical completion.

Airlines Still Want The Boeing 777-9
Despite the controversy surrounding the first aircraft, little evidence suggests airlines have abandoned the 777-9 itself. More than 650 777X aircraft have been ordered between the three variants - the 777-8, 777-9, and 777-8F - making the program one of the industry's most important future widebody families. Lufthansa remains committed to its 20-aircraft order, while Emirates has an order for 235 777-9s plus 35 777-8s, showing that the industry's largest customers still see a role for the aircraft.

The reason is straightforward - the 777-9 offers airlines a combination of size, range and efficiency that fits the upper end of the long-haul market, particularly as carriers replace older four-engine aircraft and earlier-generation 777s. Airlines therefore have a strong incentive to wait for the program rather than abandon it, even if they would prefer not to receive the earliest production examples. The commercial disagreement is about which aircraft should arrive first and who should pay to make them ready, not necessarily about whether the aircraft has a future.

Lufthansa's own contingency planning shows how seriously airlines are treating the delivery schedule. Spohr has said the airline has prepared for both a scenario in which the 777-9 arrives as planned and one in which further delays require older aircraft to remain in service, including the possible reactivation of older Airbus A340-300 aircraft. For Boeing, then, the next challenge is not simply getting the 777-9 certified - it is turning a backlog of early-built aircraft into acceptable assets while delivering a production standard that airlines are prepared to put into everyday service.







 


What are the details of the Air Force receiving the new Vengeance drone?

The U.S. Air Force recently entered the production and deployment phase for its highly anticipated FQ-42 "Vengeance" autonomous fighter drone, manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The formal naming and updated operational milestones were announced by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink at the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Concurrently, Creech Air Force Base officially took delivery of a new Vengeance jet to begin regular test, evaluation, and tactical development operations. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Key details regarding the acquisition, capabilities, and rollout of the Vengeance drone program include:

Procurement Timeline & Quantities
•	Near-Term Production (Increment 1): The Air Force has authorized an initial production batch of 150 Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), split between the FQ-42 Vengeance and Anduril Industries' FQ-44 Fury, to be built by 2030. [1, 2] 
•	Ambitious Fleet Goals: The Air Force aggressively expanded its near-term target to fielding at least 500 combat-ready autonomous systems by 2032, with an ultimate baseline fleet goal of 1,000 aircraft. [1, 2] 
•	Rapid Prototyping: The program progressed from its initial contract award to its first flight in August 2025 in under 18 months, reaching live weapons testing within 9 months of its maiden flight. [1, 2] 

Design & Tactical Capabilities
•	Human-Machine Teaming: Designed as a "loyal wingman," the semi-autonomous Vengeance will fly alongside crewed stealth jets like the F-35A Lightning II and future sixth-generation fighters to expand sensor range and protect human crews. [1] 
•	Planned Armament: The platform's primary mission is air-to-air combat, with a planned payload capacity carrying two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. General Atomics is actively preparing to conduct an autonomous air-to-air live missile shot in the near future. [1, 2] 
•	"Affordable Mass": The drone is engineered to be a low-cost asset. While not strictly intended to be expendable (attritable), its lower price point allows commanders to take significantly higher tactical risks in highly contested environments. [1, 2] 

Operational Implementation
•	Experimental Operational Unit: Air Force operators are already actively flying early experimental models. This allows the military to establish real-world tactics, agile combat employment techniques, and human-machine teaming procedures before massive quantities roll off the manufacturing lines. 
•	The Name Shift: General Atomics initially designated the prototype program as "Dark Merlin". The Air Force officially overridden this internal tag, choosing Vengeance to denote an operational identity centered on imposing retaliatory combat power. [1, 2, 3, 4] 







 


Air Force dubs Collaborative Combat Aircraft FQ-42 Vengeance, FQ-44 Fury
•	Published Sept. 14, 2026
•	By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AFNS) -- 
The Department of the Air Force officially named its newest Collaborative Combat Aircraft the FQ-42 Vengeance and FQ-44 Fury during Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink’s keynote address at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Sept. 14.

Revealing the official names was a natural next step for the CCA program as the Air Force modernizes the nation’s aerial combat fleet.

"Naming these aircraft is more than ceremonial, it connects the ingenuity and courage of our past with the cutting-edge capabilities our Airmen will command in future conflicts," Meink said. "Fury and Vengeance represent the future of integrated combat capability, designed to operate in tandem with our aircraft… to hold any target at risk, anywhere, any time."

Meink emphasized the service’s relentless focus on ensuring Airmen have necessary capabilities they will need for the future fight. The CCA program has delivered on that imperative, partnering with Air Combat Command’s Experimental Operations Unit to provide operational input into CCA development.

"The evolving strategic environment demands adaptive, affordable mass at scale,” Meink added. “CCA is in the hands of operators so they can help drive technical requirements and advance the platform at commercial speeds necessary to best support the Joint Force.”

The CCA program has embodied Department of War Acquisition Transformation initiatives to onboard the next generation of combat capability with speed.

“We cannot afford yesterday’s timelines for tomorrow’s threats,” said Gen. Dale White, director, Critical Major Weapon Systems for the Department of War. “CCA is an exemplar program that shattered traditional acquisition cycles by uniting operators, requirements owners, acquirers, and industry partners from day one. Doing so has cut through bureaucracy and moved this program from first flight to live munitions firing in just nine months — delivering lethal, adaptable combat mass to our warfighters years ahead of schedule.”

In June, the Air Force entered into production (Increment 1) for 150 Vengeance and Fury aircraft. The Air Force intends to have 500 combat-ready, semi-autonomous systems by 2032, with an overall fleet size of 1000 that will extend reach, awareness and survivability of American airpower in contested environments.





 


The New LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM Was Supposed to Cost $77,700,000,000. The Price Is Now 81 Percent More at $140,900,000,000 and the Air Force Is Sweating

The original estimate assumed the new ICBM would drop into existing Minuteman infrastructure. It can’t. Sentinel needs different dimensions, different electrical architecture, different environmental and communications requirements, and modern physical and cyber security standards — across 450 launch facilities spread over Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. That turned a missile replacement into one of the largest civil-engineering projects the Air Force has ever run, and triggered a Nunn-McCurdy breach the Pentagon chose to certify rather than cancel.

By Harrison Kass

Note: See photos and graphics in the original artcie.


Sentinel ICBM. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The LGM-35A Sentinel is intended to replace the LGM-30G Minuteman III as America’s land-based nuclear deterrent. The original projected acquisition cost of the Sentinel was roughly $77.7 billion. But the revised estimate is quite a bit higher: $140.9 billion, or 81 percent more. The cost growth was severe enough to trigger a Nunn-McCurdy breach, the statutory mechanism that requires Pentagon review when a major acquisition program drastically exceeds its approved budget baseline. But rather than cancel the program, the Pentagon certified the Sentinel as essential to national security. This raises an important question: how does replacing one ICBM with another turn into a $140 billion project? It’s because the USAF isn’t just replacing an ICBM but also rebuilding much of the physical and digital infrastructure that underpins the entire leg of the nuclear triad.

The Minuteman III is Old

The Minuteman III entered service in 1970.
A three-stage solid-fuel ICBM, the Minuteman measures 60 feet long and has a range exceeding 6,000 miles.

Roughly 400 operational missiles are deployed across Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming, while associated infrastructure extends into Nebraska and Colorado.
The Minuteman has been continuously modernized over the years, with upgrades to its propulsion, guidance, electronics, warheads, and command-and-control systems.
So the contemporary Minuteman is not your basic 1970s missile. But the underlying architecture does date back to the Cold War. And the Air Force knows it can’t maintain that architecture indefinitely.

Introducing the Sentinel
The Sentinel is also a three-stage solid-propellant ICBM. Designed for intercontinental range, the Sentinel is believed to have a 6,000-mile range. The modern composite motor cases replace much older construction techniques found on the Minuteman.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor.
The first- and second-stage propulsion systems are designed by Northrop, while the third-stage motor is courtesy of Aerojet Rocketdyne. The new composite structures reduce inert mass while retaining strength under enormous motor pressures.

Sentinel ICBM U.S. Air Force
The design features less dead structural weight, which should translate into greater performance and payload margins.

Three Stages
The basic ICBM sequence is as follows: Stage 1 ignites in the silo and accelerates the missile upwards before Stage 1 separates; Stage 2 continues acceleration outside the thicker atmosphere; then Stage 3 supplies the final boost; the post-boost system precisely orients the payloads; finally, the reentry vehicle follows a ballistic trajectory towards the target.
Most of the ICBM’s flight occurs outside of the atmosphere. The reentry vehicle returns to the atmosphere at extreme hypersonic velocity. The entire flight, from the continental United States to intercontinental destinations, takes tens of minutes. It’s an immediate response option. But unlike a bomber, an ICBM cannot be recalled after launch.


If you fire it, it’s going all the way to the target. There’s strategic value in that—people aren’t likely to fool around in the face of a weapon that can’t be turned around—but also controversy.

The Digital Upgrade
The Sentinel isn’t revolutionary because the solid rockets are new—they’re not, of course.
The major improvement, rather, is the replacement of decades-old architecture with contemporary guidance, electronics, communications, command-and-control, cybersecurity, and maintainability.


Like so many modern military systems, the Sentinel emphasizes modular and open-system architecture. In theory, this will allow for components of the system to be upgraded over the next few decades without needing a full-on redesign.
That should help the USAF reach its goal of keeping the Sentinel in service until 2075.

Bad Calculations
The fiscal calculations were way off because the original concept assumed the Sentinel would rely on existing Minuteman infrastructure.

That hasn’t been the case. The existing launch facilities date to the Cold War and require extensive modification and reconstruction.

The Sentinel therefore became a massive civil-engineering program, encompassing 450 launch facilities spread across vast portions of the American West and the Great Plains.

So the ICBM upgrade isn’t really an ICBM upgrade as much as it’s a silos and launch-control infrastructure upgrade.

And while it may seem tempting to just stick the new Sentinels in the old Minuteman silos, that won’t work.

The Sentinel demands different dimensions, environmental requirements, electrical architecture, communications, and maintenance practices. The modern nuclear command infrastructure also requires updated cyber and physical security standards.
But does America still need 400 silo-based nuclear missiles? That’s the bigger question at the heart of the Sentinel debate.






 


L3Harris says digital KC-135 cockpit upgrade can keep U.S. tanker fleet mission-ready beyond 2050 and reduce sustainment costs

By Martin Chomsky (Defence Industry Europe)
Air
|
September 20, 2026
Photo: U.S. Department of War.

L3Harris Technologies has outlined a digital avionics upgrade intended to keep the U.S. Air Force’s KC-135 aerial refueling fleet operational beyond 2050. The proposed modernization would replace obsolete flight deck instruments while reducing maintenance risks, sustainment costs and aircrew workload.
The company said the KC-135 will remain central to the availability of aerial refueling capacity around the world as mission demands continue to evolve. It argued that affordable upgrades capable of being fielded quickly would help preserve readiness during increasingly unpredictable conflicts.


Aging avionics and declining access to replacement parts are placing greater pressure on KC-135 sustainment. L3Harris said those constraints can affect aircraft availability as the tanker fleet supports growing operational requirements.

The proposed upgrade is based on government-owned architecture and a mature C-135 avionics baseline. L3Harris said the approach would reduce integration risks and provide an open foundation for adding new capabilities without disrupting aircraft readiness.

The architecture would use commercially proven components connected through industry-standard interfaces. According to L3Harris, this would give the Air Force greater flexibility and reduce dependence on individual vendors and original equipment manufacturers.

The modernization is designed to preserve a distributed aerial refueling capability located close to operational forces. The KC-135 fleet supports training routes, homeland missions and deployment corridors used to move military forces globally.
L3Harris described its proposal as a lower-risk option that could be fielded faster than a more extensive redesign. The company said its experience in aircraft modification would support the continued operation of the tanker fleet for decades.

The company has previously completed mission-system upgrades for C-135 variants operated by the U.S. Air Force and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. L3Harris said that work helped keep the aircraft available and ready for extended service.






 


Boeing says 777-9 testing could extend into 2027 over GE9X issue

ETOPS campaign has yet to begin while Boeing has already adjusted 777X production and delivery schedules

Ricardo Meier

September 17, 2026 06:37


Boeing could see part of the 777-9 flight-test campaign extend into 2027 as additional work on the GE Aerospace GE9X engine delays the start of ETOPS certification testing.

CEO Kelly Ortberg provided the update on Wednesday during the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference, where he said GE Aerospace has required more testing than initially expected to certify a solution for a durability issue involving a mid-seal in the GE9X.

The engine work is preventing Boeing from beginning the ETOPS portion of the 777-9 certification campaign. Ortberg said the manufacturer has not yet received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to start those tests because GE must first complete the certification plan for the engine fix.

GE remains confident in its solution, according to Ortberg, but the additional work has reduced the time available to complete the remaining certification activities this year. “We may see some of the testing spill into next year,” Ortberg said.

Boeing nevertheless continues to target the first 777-9 delivery in 2027. The company has not announced another delay to the entry into service of the aircraft, which is already several years behind its original schedule.
Seventh 777-9 test aircraft | Boeing
777-9 ETOPS campaign has yet to begin
The GE9X issue adds another constraint to a certification program that has been underway for years. Boeing began 777-9 flight testing in January 2020, but the process was subsequently extended as the FAA increased scrutiny of the program and the manufacturer encountered technical issues.

The FAA has progressively granted Type Inspection Authorizations allowing Boeing test aircraft to conduct certification work. The ETOPS campaign, however, remains outstanding.
ETOPS approval is required for the twin-engine 777-9 to operate long sectors at extended distances from suitable diversion airports, a capability fundamental to the intercontinental routes for which airlines have ordered the aircraft.

Ortberg said GE Aerospace has been working through additional testing associated with the GE9X mid-seal issue. The problem concerns durability rather than the basic architecture of the engine, but its resolution must be incorporated into the certification process before Boeing can proceed with the related ETOPS work.

The timing has already led Boeing to modify parts of its planning. Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said during the same conference that the company had made “a few adjustments already to deliveries and production schedules.”

Ortberg also acknowledged that Boeing may have to reshuffle some deliveries, although he said the changes remain within the financial assumptions already established for the program.
Seventh 777-9 test aircraft | Boeing
Early-build aircraft remain under discussion
Another issue involves the 777-9s assembled years before certification is completed. Boeing has roughly 30 aircraft already built that require modifications before they can be delivered to customers.

During the conference, Ortberg was asked about concerns that some of those early aircraft could be technologically outdated by the time they enter service, as well as the possibility of cancellations or discounts.

He described the matter as part of contractual discussions with customers and said Boeing has accounted for the situation in its financial estimates. Ortberg declined to discuss individual allocations, saying he did not want to negotiate publicly over “who is getting what airplane.”

The comments suggest Boeing is still working with customers on how the early-build aircraft will be allocated, although Ortberg did not confirm that any of them have been canceled.

Kelly Ortberg (Boeing)
Emirates President Tim Clark has been particularly critical of the condition of some early 777-9s. The airline is the largest customer for the 777X family, and Clark has previously questioned the amount of rework that would be required to bring aircraft built years ago to the final certified standard.

Boeing's current schedule calls for the 777-9 to enter service in 2027, followed later by other members of the family. The smaller 777-8 and the 777-8F freighter have separate development and certification schedules.







 


AFA 2026: United States Micro Turbine targets US small jet engine market

A model of United States Microturbine's USMT-400 90-lb thrust turbine engine displayed at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in September 2026 (Janes/Jeremiah Cushman)

Demand for small jet engines to power drones and missiles continues to grow as armed forces seek to build stockpiles of such weapons. United States Micro Turbine, headquartered in San Francisco, California, was founded in May 2026 to help address US demand for these engines.

Jordan Factor, CEO for United States Micro Turbine, told Janes on 15 September at the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, that he got his start with jet-powered remote-control aircraft.

“In the last year or two, it became exceedingly difficult to get your hands on a model specific jet engine. The reason is they've been diverted from the hobbyist world to the defence space. There was also an embargo on a Chinese company that was selling engines here. You couldn't get your hands on engines easily as you once could, and it became clear that there was a business opportunity,” he said.

“I started tinkering with the idea. What would a design look like?” Factor explained, adding that he put together a design in a couple of weeks, refined it, and “suddenly I had a product that I thought was good enough to test and release as a first product for the company”.

Products
The company's initial product is the USMT-400 single-spool turbojet engine, which produces 400 N (89.9 lb) of thrust and weighs 3.75 kg (8.27 lb), according to a factsheet.

The engine measures 355 mm (14 in) in length with a maximum diameter of 150 mm (5.9 in), the factsheet said. It can use Jet-A, JP-8, and diesel fuel.






 


US Air Force boosted B-52 bomber battle readiness by 40% without buying new jets

Shortages and maintenance bottlenecks often plague aircraft fleets leaving many perfectly good aircraft grounded.

Read Next: US engineers 3D-print giant two-ton steel mold to make lighter aircraft doors

By Christopher McFadden
Innovation

Sep 19, 2026 07:21 AM EST


Note: See photos and videos in the original article. 


Representative image of a ground crew readying a B-52.
U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons

The USAF’s North Star Readiness Campaign has boosted the number of flyable B-52 “Stratofortresses” by 40 percent. That doesn’t mean they’ve acquired more aircraft; it means the number unavailable due to maintenance and logistics bottlenecks has been dramatically slashed.

Like any machine, aircraft like the B-52 require ongoing maintenance and repair and require other supplies to remain operational. For a venerable and ancient aircraft such as the B-52, a plentiful and timely supply of spare parts and consumables is essential to ensuring it can remain operational.

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In fact, most aircraft can be perfectly serviceable, but may remain grounded due to waiting for spare parts, an engineering decision, depot work, or some other bit of support. At present, the USAF operates somewhere in the order of 76 B-52s.
About three-quarters of those are in active service, with the remainder held in reserve for a variety of reasons. Another 12 or so airframes are also held in “deep storage” at the Davis-Monthan AFB Boneyard to act as donors for spare parts or potential backup reinforcements.
Keeping more B-52s airborne
That’s where the North Star Readiness Campaign comes in. It is essentially an Air Force-wide effort to attack those bottlenecks rather than treating readiness as merely a problem for mechanics on the flight line.
It brings maintenance, logistics, supply, engineering and depot organisations together to get aircraft returned to service faster. With it, something that previously might have taken a week or more to reach an aircraft can apparently now arrive in days.

That’s a big deal when you’ve got a relatively small bomber fleet: shaving several days off every repair can mean several additional aircraft being available at any given time. This program is also making headway for other key aircraft like the B-1 “Lancer.”

According to reports, the number of so-called Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts (MICAPS), essentially serious parts shortages keeping aircraft from being fully operational, fell from more than 450 to about 160.

The strategic reason for doing this now is the transition to the B-21 “Raider.” The USAF still needs the old B-52s and B-1s to provide long-range strike capability while some aircraft are simultaneously undergoing maintenance and modernization and while the B-21 gradually enters service.
Logistics is key
Getting more aircraft out of maintenance therefore gives commanders a larger usable force without actually buying any additional B-52s. To give you an idea of how significant this could be, let’s say 30 B-52s were available for active duty before North Star.

Using it, this could be increased to 42, an increase of 40 percent. Of course, this is just an illustration, as the actual numbers are reported. It could be higher or lower in reality.
Whatever the case may be, it is interesting to see that something as mundane as improved logistics can significantly lead to tangible increases in combat readiness in the form of more available aircraft.

This is all the more important for smaller fleets or aircraft, particularly large and expensive things like B-52, B-1, or B-21 bombers.





 


A millisecond software glitch led to more than 2,000 cancelled UK flights

Tiny coding defect caused six hours of UK restrictions and disrupted UAE services
Last updated: 

September 19, 2026 | 17:11

Nathaniel Lacsina

Delayed passengers wait and queue with their luggage at Terminal 3 of London Heathrow airport, west of London on September 8, 2026, following major disruption due an issue affecting the NATS air traffic control systems.

A software defect triggered in a millisecond led to an air traffic control failure that ultimately contributed to more than 2,000 flight cancellations across the UK, investigators have found.

The September 8 disruption affected hundreds of thousands of passengers. It caused delays and cancellations at major airports across Britain, with the impact also reaching travellers flying between the UK and the UAE.

What went wrong?
According to NATS’ preliminary investigation, the problem originated in a small part of the National Airspace System, which underpins UK airspace management.
The affected software allocates identification codes to individual aircraft when staff make manual requests. These codes allow flights to be identified on radar once airborne.

NATS said it was processing a manual request for an aircraft code when the system received a message related to a higher-priority activity.

That temporarily paused the aircraft-code request.

When processing resumed, a software defect meant it did not restart correctly. The resulting output became corrupted and affected some subsequent flight-data updates.
Cyberattack ruled out in UK air traffic glitch that hit hundreds of flights

The critical sequence happened “in the space of a millisecond”, NATS said.
The millisecond reference does not mean the resulting disruption lasted only a fraction of a second.

With less information available to air traffic controllers, NATS imposed restrictions on aircraft movements to maintain safety while it restarted its systems and reloaded flight data.

Those restrictions remained in place for around six hours.

Although NATS operations returned to normal later that evening, the organisation said it took more than two days for the resulting passenger backlog to clear.
More than 2,000 flights cancelled

The disruption quickly spread through Britain’s aviation network.
UK- UAE, Gulf travel: Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways updates after air traffic control outage

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, 1,746 flights were cancelled on September 8, followed by another 399 on September 9.

That brought the total to 2,145 cancellations over the two days.
Industry body Airlines UK said more than 330,000 passengers were affected, with around 155,000 facing cancellations and approximately 180,000 experiencing delays.
British Airways alone cancelled nearly 550 flights over the two days, affecting about 85,000 customers.

Even after NATS restored normal operations, airlines faced knock-on disruption as aircraft and crews were left out of position.

How did the disruption affect UAE travellers?
The impact extended to passengers travelling between the UAE and the UK.
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Etihad Airways said that the UK air traffic control problem disrupted several London Heathrow-Abu Dhabi services on September 8.
Flight EY64 from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi was cancelled, while EY66 was delayed.

EY68 faced an extended delay after its inbound service, EY67, was diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Etihad said its teams assisted affected passengers with hotel accommodation and rebooking their onward travel.

Some disruption continued the following day. Etihad’s EY77 from Abu Dhabi to Manchester and EY61 from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow departed late, Gulf News reported.

Emirates also confirmed that flights arriving at and departing from UK airports were being affected by the NATS technical issue.

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The Dubai-based airline advised passengers to regularly check their flight status and operational updates before heading to the airport and to monitor their email for notifications about delays, changes or cancellations.
Was it a cyberattack?
NATS has ruled out a cyberattack.
Its preliminary investigation instead identified a software defect in a specific part of its flight-data system and traced it to “a small subsection of coding”.

NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe also dismissed speculation that military intervention was responsible.

The company said the September 8 failure was unrelated to the major UK air traffic control outage in August 2023.

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NATS said flight safety was never compromised during the latest incident.

Independent review ordered
The findings are preliminary and will now face independent scrutiny.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ordered an independent review into the disruption, including its cause and the resilience of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure.

NATS said mitigation measures are already in place while it safety-tests and deploys a permanent software fix.

The episode demonstrates how an error occurring within a fraction of a second can cascade through a tightly connected aviation network: the software defect was triggered in a millisecond, restrictions lasted around six hours, and it took more than two days to clear the resulting disruption.




Curt Lewis