Despite telling Senators that he believes the current plan to upgrade C-5As will win out, Deputy SECDEF England acknowledged that the “higher-than-anticipated usage of the C-17” means the Pentagon “will need likely a few more airplanes.” However, England said that is an issue for the 2008 budget not the 2007 budget.
The Air Force said May 4 it has approved the T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft to move into low-rate production and awarded Boeing a $219 million contract to start building the first 14 production jets.