Did anyone think that dropping the alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine would be easy? The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to meet next week with international partners in the JSF program and, in a separate hearing, with the deputy secretary of defense and the two engine makers—Pratt Whitney, the original F-35 engine producer, and GE-Rolls Royce, the alternate engine team. Lawmakers in both houses have signaled their concern. Even the top Air Force civilian, who believes there is little technical risk, worries about having only one industrial source.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
