Congress has sided with labor unions against the Pentagon over the National Security Personnel System, prohibiting use of 2007 funds for NSPS labor relations actions. The House-Senate conference report for the 2007 defense spending bill would remove this limitation should the federal district court decision (American Federation of Government Employees vs. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) be reversed on appeal. The Pentagon is pursuing implementation of NSPS—without the union employees.
A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 suffered an engine failure flying over Africa in May 2023, forcing the drone’s pilot to down it in the ocean where it was not recovered, according to a new Air Force report. The cost of the mishap was more than $21 million.