Despite threats from budgetary buzzards, Joint Strike Fighter development continues, with Pratt & Whitney reporting that it has completed the first flight-test engine that will power the F-35 next year. P&W has been the lead propulsion system on the JSF since the concept demonstration phase in 1996, and the completed engine—the F135—is an evolved version of the F119 engine used on the F/A-22. P&W says engines will go on the test F-35 fighter early next year, with test flights scheduled for late summer 2006.
Dick Cheney’s Legacy with the Air Force
Nov. 6, 2025
Dick Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at 84, is best remembered by most Americans as among the most powerful Vice Presidents in history, a consummate Washington insider who had previously served in the Nixon administration, was Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford, a Congressman for a decade, and Secretary…


