The
re are fighters to patrol North American skies, but they are not F-15 Eagles, the mainstay of the homeland air defense effort, because those aircraft remain grounded. Scott Lindlaw of Associated Press reports that NORAD officials have plugged the gaps, but resources are spread thin. For instance, in California, the F-16s of the Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing are covering the entire West Coast, a first for a single state, according to the California Air Guard. The Oregon ANG F-15s would normally share the duty. The 144th FW has had to bolster its fleet with F-16s on loan from Arizona and Indiana.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
