DOD has determined the identity of the remains of an airman missing since Jan. 8, 1968, when his RF-4C Phantom disappeared over South Vietnam. He was Maj. Charles L. Bifolchi of Quincy, Mass. A US Army helicopter crew found wreckage the day after Bifolchi and his fellow crewmember went missing, and US forces continued searching for four days, but enemy activity and the steep terrain prevented recovery of the two crewmen. The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command personnel and Vietnamese teams conducted two surveys from 1993 to 2000, recovering human remains and aircraft wreckage.
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.