The Missile Defense Agency has redeployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system equipment from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii via four USAF C-17 airlifters. Soldiers at Ft. Bliss, Tex., moved the equipment by road from White Sands to Biggs Army Airfield at Ft. Bliss and prepared it for loading onto the airlifters, performing much as if they were making a real tactical move of the THAAD system. Just to be safe, they first practiced on C-17 mockups, according to an MDA release.
Contracts for F-35 airframes in Lot 18 and 19 should be signed in the spring, but an engine deal is still not in hand and could take months longer. The delays don't seem to be driven by anticipation of how the new Trump administration will influence the program.