The Senate on Sept. 7 approved a $469.7 billion 2007 defense appropriations bill, including $65.5 billion in supplemental appropriations. The basic total comes to some $9 billion less than the Administration request. As with the House version, the Senate bill fully funds Air Force purchases of 20 F-22As, 12 C-17s, and nine C-130Js. The Senate undercuts the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, delaying production by one year to establish greater design maturity. It would also delay procurement on the Army-Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft to allow time for better requirements definition between the two services. And, like the House, it provides funds to purchase three replacement C-17s. Differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill are to be worked out during conference.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…