Is Britain Ditching JSF?: 
According to The Sunday Times of London, British defense officials are peeved (our word) because the Pentagon doesn’t want to turn over the technology keys, and—this is probably the break point—they fear the cost is going up. No doubt, they keep abreast of the swirl of talk about possible draconian cuts to the program as a result of our long-running Quadrennial Defense Review. With Britain and another key ally getting weak-kneed over the Joint Strike Fighter., one wonders about its future.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.