Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told the House Armed Services Committee that canceling the alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was “a very tough call,” involving long-term reliability statistics and economics. He granted that the service needed an alternate engine for the F-16 fighter because of reliability problems, but he said that today’s engines are much more reliable. “The reliability argument began to eat into whether or not there would be an economic shortfall,” said Wynne. He added that if there were “an extra dollar,” an alternate engine would “be one place” it would be spent. Why? Two reasons, said Wynne: “We do worry about the downstream effects. … I don’t like to see our industrial base go to a single supplier.”
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
