Lawmakers prodded Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace during the House Armed Services Committee budget hearing Feb. 7 to review the bidding on the Pentagon decision not to purchase any more new C-17 strategic airlifters. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) called the present situation “somewhat of an airlift crisis” considering the ongoing need to project forces. Pace maintained that the determination to limit C-17s to 180 is still right and that last year’s Congressional add of 10 airframes more than takes care of losses through excessive use. Tauscher was not deterred, though, coming right back with: “We know we’re going to need more C-17s.” She urged Gates and Pace to keep the C-17 “line warm.”
Lockheed Martin’s proposed autonomous drone, called Vectis, is still on track to fly a prototype by the end of 2027, an official from the company’s Skunk Works division said Sept. 10, and the firm already started work on four more Vectis aircraft.
