The F-16 mechanics at Ogden Air Logistics Center in Utah no longer have to spend endless hours scraping sealant off fighter wings. Now they have a machine that blasts off the sealant using dry ice pellets, and they say it’s already paid for itself. What used to take four shifts of three to four people to do by hand, now only takes one person over four shifts. The machine cost $27,000, and based on the man-hour savings, it “was almost paid for after the first use,” says Dennis Hathaway, F-16 Wing Shop supervisor.
The Pentagon is counting on Congress to navigate a legislative tightrope and pass a party-line bill to fund nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027, including billions of dollars for top priorities like Golden Dome, the F-35, munitions, and unmanned systems. Experts and lawmakers from…