Megan Scully of CongressDaily reports that, in crafting the 2008 defense policy bill, lawmakers reduced the “specialty metals” pain delivered by the “Buy America” rule in last year’s defense bill. Supporters of the Buy America provision say the new bill, which is on its way to the President for signature, provides a compromise that still supports domestic metals suppliers. Many in the defense industry had complained about the earlier provision, which they believed was overly restrictive, citing the expense in trying to determine the origins of various metals. The Pentagon had to issue waivers to keep some critical products flowing.
The Air Force said May 4 it has approved the T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft to move into low-rate production and awarded Boeing a $219 million contract to start building the first 14 production jets.