BAE Systems has begun assembling the aft fuselage of the first short takeoff and vertical landing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the company’s Samlesbury, England facility, officials said July 5. BAE expects to deliver the horizontal and vertical tails of the STOVL version—destined primarily for the Marine Corps, but USAF also plans to buy some—to Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Tex., facility for final assembly by the end of the year. BAE also is working on the F-35’s electronic warfare systems suite and advanced low-observable apertures and countermeasure systems.
The U.S. conducted a drone strike in Iraq on Dec. 3, as the American troops there continue to be targeted by Iranian-backed militants. The strike took place near Kirkuk as the militants were preparing to attack U.S. troops in northern Iraq, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.…