The Defense Department has identified remains found in a search conducted in 2000 and 2005 of a crash site in Vietnam as those of Col. Eugene D. Hamilton of Opelika, Ala. Hamilton was flying an F-105D on an armed reconnaissance mission under Operation Rolling Thunder when enemy fire struck his fighter. Airborne searches of the area at the time found no trace of the fighter or the pilot, but Hanoi radio broadcast that it had shot down an F-105.
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.