Money to upgrade the A-10’s TF-34 engine “fell out” of the upcoming five-year spending plan—the 2008 POM—according to the Gen. Michael Moseley. However, he said that he hasn’t given up hope. In the Chief of Staff’s words: “That modification, that upgrade of the TF-34 engine, that’s where my heart is. That’s where I want to go.”
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.