The Air Force plans to replace the capability that it would have put on the now-canceled E-10 sensor and battle management airplane by upgrading the E-8 Joint STARS, according to Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition. The service’s 18 E-8s will all get new radars and new engines, but not the CFM-56s that are on KC-135Rs. The big-bypass turbofans were too bulky and would have interfered with the radar, Hoffman told Air Force Magazine Friday. The insides of the E-8s will feature new workstations, too.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.

