Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) promised to get to the bottom of DOD’s termination of the alternate F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine—kicking off the first of two hearings on the matter Tuesday afternoon. One of the first witnesses, Lord Peter Drayson, the United Kingdom’s minister for defense procurement, told the committee that there are financial and performance benefits associated with the alternate engine program. Drayson said that the British government is “determined to make a success of JSF” and believes having two engine manufacturers provides significant advantages. He noted, too, the later technology offered by the GE-Rolls Royce F136 engine that, he said, would boost performance.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…