We Need the 
Raptor for China: Speaking at an AEI forum, Michael Vickers of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says the Air Force’s “job one” is “hedging against the rise of China.” He also had a simple prescription for carrying out this mission: Save the F/A-22. According to Vickers, the way to accomplish this feat is to scale back the F/A-22 program or kill “the big sucking chest wound” known as the Joint Strike Fighter.
The cost of the nuclear AGM-181 Long-Range Stand Off missile has come down slightly and the program is on track, but several technologies it relies on are still considered immature, the Government Accountability Office found in a report. Meanwhile, the GAO also assessed the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile as…