The Governor of Montana doesn’t think it likely that the Air Force will reopen the runway at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., one of the options floated recently by the state’s Congressional delegation. Instead, Gov. Brian Schweitzer met this week with the Air Force’s top loggie, William Anderson, to discuss the potential for installing a coal-to-liquids plant at Malmstrom as part of USAF’s switch to synthetic fuel. Actually, the idea started with Anderson, who contacted Schweitzer after hearing him talk at a coal-to-liquids conference. The Great Falls Tribune reports that Schweitzer believes such an effort would produce a thousand jobs at Malmstrom.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
