Beijing treated Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to take a close look at its top line fighters, including a Chinese-built Su-27 fighter-bomber. DOD journalist Jim Garamone reports that Chinese officials said Pace is the first American to get close to the Su-27, which Russia designed as a counterpart to USAF’s F-15 air superiority fighter.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.