Tom Burbage, Lockheed’s F-35 VP, says partner countries are assessing their future needs just as the US Defense Department is doing with its Quadrennial Defense Review. And, he notes that the partners are “anxiously awaiting” the results of the QDR to see if the JSF will be delayed, reduced, or scrapped outright. It would be a blow to the allies if JSF is eliminated, he said. “They are counting on this airplane” for their future defense needs, Burbage asserted.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
