Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wants extra assurance the Air Force is going to give full consideration to the KC-30 tanker being offered by the Northrop Grumman-EADS team, which plans to produce the aircraft at a new plant in Mobile, Ala. Sessions has included a “sense of Congress” amendment (S.A. 2023) to the 2008 defense authorization bill now on the Senate floor that would “discourage actions that would limit the ability of either of the teams seeking the contract for the procurement of the KC-X tanker aircraft from competing in the competition.” Earlier this year, Sessions heralded the Northrop-EADS decision to continue in the KC-X competition, calling it “good news for the warfighter, the taxpayer, and for Alabama and Mobile.”
Small one-way attack drones widely used on the frontlines of Ukraine and against U.S. outposts in the Middle East have fundamentally altered the definition of air superiority, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife said April 24. "Our traditional conception of what things like…