Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), speaking at a Thursday Capitol Hill forum hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments expressed frustration over the still-pending release of the analysis of alternatives for aerial refueler aircraft recapitalization. Dicks said that Congress gave RAND an extra year to produce the AOA, but it is still under wraps because the Air Force has requested analysis of additional alternatives. He said that would take a few more months. “At this point, with the budget situation the way it is, we’ll just have to accept that,” Dicks conceded. However, he added that lawmakers would have “to keep pushing on this” to get a tanker request for proposal out by early next year.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
