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 announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.