Boeing Says It Must Close Line This Year: Boeing officials say they must have new orders for the C-17 airlifter this year or they will have to close the production line. Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems chief, Jim Albaugh, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company has not gotten any new foreign orders since the four it is building for Australia, so it will have to start shutting down the line, if Congress does not approve an unfunded request from the Air Force for seven additional C-17s. Buying more than the currently planned 180 C-17s has support in both houses of Congress.
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,…