Making a “Long Beach” Day: According to the Long Beach Press Telegram, House Appropriators on the defense subcommittee have added $100 million into the President’s war on terror supplemental funding request—specifically to sustain the Boeing C-17 program’s supply base. They want to ensure the supplier stay on board while Congress and the Pentagon wrangle over whether to build more than 180 C-17 airlifters. The addition still must face the full House and the Senate, but sentiment in both would seem to favor buying more of the new strategic airlifters.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.