Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, told lawmakers during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that the Air Force simply cannot afford an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. He said it would cost “$2 billion that we don’t have.” Despite Congressional pressure last year to keep a second engine effort going, the Pentagon left it out of its 2008 budget request, and DOD officials continue to say the risk of having only one engine-maker outweighs the cost of two efforts. In earlier testimony Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne expressed a preference for the alternate engine, however he acknowledged Tuesday that the issue comes down to money—the budget is too tight.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
