British Prime Minister Tony Blair has sent a letter to President Bush urging that he retain development of a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Reuters news service reports that an unnamed British official said the letter was sent shortly before Christmas. British defense contractor Rolls Royce is teamed with General Electric to produce an alternate JSF engine. It would seem that the imminent-demise speculation is correct. Of course, a prudent Pentagon would have foreseen a Blair attack and prepared the Administration for a British backlash, right
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.