If Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chair of the Senate Armed Services AirLand panel, has his way the 2007 defense budget will be $1.2 billion lighter in the Joint Strike Fighter account. In its markup of the 2007 defense authorization bill, the panel cited “a program delay” as its rationale for the cut. According to the Congressional newspaper The Hill, McCain proposes striking $870 million in 2007 procurement for the first five of USAF’s version of the F-35, which is slated to start rolling off the production line first, and another $85 million from 2008. The panel would also take $245 million in 2008 slated for the Marine Corps JSF. The House Armed Services Committee markup did not make similar cuts.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.