It was premature to cut defense spending 15 years ago, said Rep. Curt Weldon Wednesday, adding that the long hiatus in modernizing—which he characterized as “sitting around singing ‘Kumbaya’… because the world was at peace”—has made the current situation almost “unbearable.” Defense spending has “hit a ceiling” because entitlement programs devour 60 percent of the federal tax dollar. He told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that they have no choice but to do more with less. He enjoined them to help by “cutting costs on the programs you want to buy.”
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…