The House Armed Services Committee wants to speed up JSTARS recapitalization, it makes clear in a report on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The committee “encourages” Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James to develop a plan, with incentives in the JSTARS recapitalization Engineering and Manufacturing Development and procurement contracts, to “accelerate the development, procurement, and fielding” of the JSTARS recapitalization project. Included in the report is a request for James to brief HASC by Dec. 1 on the recapitalization; at that hearing, she must present one option for accelerating initial operational capability to Fiscal 2022 and another option for accelerating IOC to Fiscal 2023. Right now, IOC is expected in 2024, though it has been pushed back multiple times. The HASC version of the NDAA also prohibits the retirement of any JSTARS aircraft in 2018. (See also: The JSTARS Recap from the February 2015 issue of Air Force Magazine.)
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,…