The Air Force’s F-35s need a number of modifications before they are combat ready, but the biggest problem the Joint Strike Fighter program is having is finding ways to get the aircraft modified while still training enough pilots to be ready once initial operational capability is declared, the F-35 program office’s executive officer said Sept. 9. By 2019, there will be 493 F-35s out in the field, and every single one of them will need modifications, said Lt. G?en. Christopher Bogdan. Still, the biggest constraint, other than the enormous cost, is the time it takes for the aircraft to get the needed updates, he said. Speaking at the ComDef conference in Washington, D.C., Bogdan said the F-35 program has moved beyond “slow and steady progress” and is now “rapidly accelerating and growing” as it approaches a “pivot point” between the big development phase and the follow-on development program. The Air Force is slated to declare IOC by Aug. 1, 2016, Bodgan said.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
