The Senate on Dec. 14 passed the 2008 defense authorization bill by a 90 to 3 vote. The House had approved the policy bill two days earlier, 370 to 49. We reported earlier on some of its provisions: eight additional C-17s; a 30/30 plan investigation plus a requirements-based, all-inclusive mobility study; no C-5 retirements, but a push to finish C-5 modernization testing; plus ups in some space programs and reductions in others; money for to continue the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter; no Tricare fee hikes; and elevation of the National Guard Bureau chief to four-star rank. The measure now goes to the President for signature. There’s also a requirement for a new, and continuing roles and missions scrub.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…