As he went down each program on Boeing’s various strike and airlift programs, Darryl Davis, head of the company’s advanced precision engagement and mobility systems, usually concluded with a comment that funding is uncertain. “Based on what we hear … about bills being flowed to the services,” Davis told reporters this morning at AFA’s Washington conference that “it will cut into R&D” in the future years spending plan. “It does not sound good” for aggressive development of new systems, he acknowledged.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.