Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley told reporters this morning at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando that the service’s new long-range strike aircraft will be the “backbone of the bomber force.” With long-range strike and F-22 fleet size hanging on it, the new program better work. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne added that the Air Force is going to try to get initial operating capability on the new bomber by 2018, but he acknowledges, “We know that will be a struggle.”
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.

