Responding this morning at a Capitol Hill seminar to a question about Britain’s unhappiness over the US decision to terminate one of the two F-35 engines, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said he’s not certain if the British are more concerned over the “relationship” between Rolls Royce and GE—teamed on the canceled powerplant—or workshare. If the issue is workshare, he said, it’s not such a big deal. Rolls will have “roughly the same” amount of work on either engine, said Wynne, conceding, though, that “GE may have sweetened the incentive a little bit.” He called the British threat to leave the JSF program “a tough call.” Wynne added: “We’d love to have them. We want to fly in partnership with the United Kingdom. We think they’re a great partner.”
A half-dozen pilots from one of the Air Force’s premier F-16 units, the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., have been awarded one of the service’s highest decorations for their role in Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.