The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel on Wednesday added $2.5 billion to its version of the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill to buy 10 C-17 transports that the Obama Administration did not request. Pentagon leaders want to stop C-17 production at current levels (205-aircraft program of record, plus eight more funded in 2009 war supplemental). But panel chairman Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said during the markup session that he believes that DOD “will eventually conclude” that buying more C-17s and keeping an active production line is “the right solution.” The House version of the spending bill includes money for three C-17s. If this mark survives the full Senate, then the two chambers would hash out the final number in conference. Neither the House nor Senate included funds for more C-17s in their respective Fiscal 2010 defense authorization bills. (Inouye statement and Subcommittee markup summary)
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…