Minnesotans have enlisted the aid of their US Senators—Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Amy Klobuchar—to try to get the A-12 Blackbird spy plane returned to the state for continued display at the Air National Guard Museum. Now, the Pioneer Press reports that the issue has caught the attention of former CIA pilot (and son of the Learjet founder) John Lear, who calls the forced return of the aircraft—after Minnesota veterans refurbished it—to the Air Force, which turned it over to the CIA for a display, a “royal rip-off.” Lear vows to “pull every string” to get the A-12 back to Minnesota.
The Pentagon has concluded a new agreement to buy laser-guidance kits that turn rockets into drone-killing weapons. BAE Systems and the Defense Department announced a framework deal of up to seven years for 25,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits annually for the U.S. military.