Action in Congress

The F-35 Joint Program Office has officially announced plans to issue multiple sole-source contracts to Pratt & Whitney to upgrade the fighter’s F135 engine—a widely expected move after Pentagon officials indicated they would do so earlier this year instead of developing an entirely new engine.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has demonstrated the first-ever Link 16 network broadcast from space to the ground, the agency announced Nov. 28—a key milestone for its new constellation of satellites.

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza landed in Egypt Nov. 28, the U.S. government announced. The flight is the first U.S. military aircraft sent to the Middle East to deliver aid for the beleaguered civilians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict that began…

The Air Force is taking steps towards starting a geothermal plant at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, as part of a larger effort to make the branch’s energy infrastructure more resilient and sustainable.

The Air Force is promoting 22.5 percent of eligible senior master sergeants to chief master sergeant in 2023, the service announced Nov. 28—the highest rate for E-9s in seven years. All told, 506 Airmen were selected from a pool of 2,249 eligible candidates. The full list of those selected will be…

Senior Air Force leaders have made a clarion call for improving Total Force readiness to prepare for potential conflict with the nation’s pacing threats. Most notably, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall is emphasizing readiness and mobilization as one...

New F-35s are coming off the production line with the TR-3 upgrade and going right into storage because testing is incomplete. Next lot negotiations are continuing, but talks over a performance-based logistics contract have stalled.

The U.S. and the Philippines conducted a three-day aerial exercise together last week, with fighters from both nations operating over the strategically vital South China Sea. The joint drill ran from Nov. 21-23, with two U.S. F-15 Eagles flying alongside two Philippines Air Force FA-50s, a Pacific Air Forces spokesperson…

A chaotic series of events in which two ballistic missiles were fired from Yemen toward an American destroyer began with an apparently unrelated act of Somali piracy, the Pentagon said Nov. 27. The disclosure adds a new twist to an increasingly complex security situation in the Middle East despite a…