The Other Engine is Back:

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Once again, lawmakers are poised to slap down the Pentagon’s attempt to kill the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine program. The House Armed Services Committee air-land panel has recommended cutting one aircraft and reducing the Air Force and Navy F-35 research and development accounts by $125 million each to fund a second alternate engine in the 2008 defense authorization bill. Panel chairman Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) recognizes that “cost pressures” led the Pentagon to terminate the program, but he maintains that “this mark recognizes the potential benefits of a competitive program.”

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org