The Partners Meet in Virginia: The Wall Street Journal reports that the US defense officials and those of the eight other countries with a share in the Joint Strike Fighter program are meeting this week in Williamsburg, Va. The agenda includes the critical issue of just how many of the new fighters each country wants to buy. One hot topic, of course, may be the effort by US lawmakers to force the Pentagon to stick with its original plan to have two competing engines for the F-35.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.