Next month, the Marine Corps may reveal its plans for sending the V-22 Osprey on its first overseas deployment, reports Megan Scully of CongressDaily. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway told defense reporters last week that it’s his “fervent desire” to get the Osprey into the war on terror. Conway calls it a “marvelous” aircraft that will “prove itself rapidly.” The Marine Corps director of aviation plans, Col. Glenn Walters, told Scully that the V-22 “is more survivable than anything we’ve got over there now.”
The Air Force plans to add external weapons pylons on the B-1B bomber, both to increase the number of aircraft that can test hypersonic missiles and expand the Lancer’s loadout as USAF transitions to the B-21 bomber.