At least one senior Pentagon official has decided to openly chastise lawmakers who would imperil DOD’s Joint Strike Fighter plans—specifically the elimination of a second engine maker and the buy approach. Acquisition chief Ken Krieg told Reuters news service that the unified front by Capitol Hill to restore funding for a second F-35 engine could force the services to reduce how many fighters they can buy. And, on point 2, Krieg told Reuters that slowing the program—effectively the result of a move by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to cut $1.2 billion in 2007 from JSF—would negatively affect suppliers and the program’s international partners.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.