Danish Minister of Defense Soren Gade on Feb. 27 in Copenhagen signed a memorandum of understanding for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production and sustainment and follow-on development, making Denmark the ninth and final partner nation to continue with the JSF program. Italy signed earlier this month, following Australia, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, and the US. According to a Lockheed Martin release, Air Force Brig. Gen. C.R. Davis, F-35 program executive officer, called the signing event “not the end of a process but rather the beginning of constructing the world’s greatest airpower coalition.”
Questioned by lawmakers on the state of the Air Force's maintenance depots, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James C. "Jim" Slife said April 30 that the service is investing in IT and data infrastructure to better sustain new software-intensive platforms—while acknowledging that there is still work to be done to…