Boeing Says It Must Close Line This Year: Boeing officials say they must have new orders for the C-17 airlifter this year or they will have to close the production line. Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems chief, Jim Albaugh, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company has not gotten any new foreign orders since the four it is building for Australia, so it will have to start shutting down the line, if Congress does not approve an unfunded request from the Air Force for seven additional C-17s. Buying more than the currently planned 180 C-17s has support in both houses of Congress.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
