At least three news reports now say the second Joint Strike Fighter engine program—the one under contract to the General Electric-Rolls Royce team—is doomed. One by Reuters news service quotes knowledgeable defense analyst Loren Thompson, who says flatly that the Pentagon “killed the alternative engine.” That may put paid to the optimism expressed by Rolls Royce last month. Of course, the final Pentagon word won’t come until the planned early February simultaneous release of the QDR and the 2007 defense budget proposal.
In his first professional move since retiring from the Space Force at the end of August, former Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman will lead the board of advisors for Voyager Technologies, the firm announced Nov. 2.