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.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.