The two Republican Senators from Ohio are protesting the Pentagon plan to curtail development of an alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine. According to the Dayton Daily News, Sen. Mike DeWine and Sen. George Voinovich wrote to Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, saying the plan will force General Electric “to exit the fighter engine arena,” leaving the Pentagon with a single source. “This is not sound business,” they wrote. British Prime Minister Tony Blair already had petitioned President Bush directly over the issue and was rebuffed. GE had teamed with Rolls Royce to produce the second F-35 engine.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
