The Air Force would have to bear the full development and integration cost of putting new Adaptive Engine Technology Program engines in its F-35 fleet because the other services can’t fit the powerplants in their versions of the fighter, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Eric T. Fick told reporters Sept. 15. “If it’s a one-service, ... unique solution, the cost of that solution will be borne by that service,” Fick said. Asked if moving forward with the AETP on the F-35 will depend on whether the Air Force is willing to bear that cost, he replied, “I think so.”

President Joe Biden stood in the East Room of the White House on Sept. 15 alongside video monitors with the leaders of Australia and the United Kingdom to announce the sharing of nuclear submarine technology with Australia, part of a trilateral security agreement to respond to growing Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region. The new trilateral security agreement builds on a defense partnership that has been ramping up with Australia in recent years in areas ranging from rotational troops to joint training and the joint development of hypersonic weapons.

Facing intense partisan criticism over his actions in the final few months of President Donald Trump’s administration, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley’s office released a statement Sept. 15 seeking to defend him. Milley’s statement comes after details from the forthcoming book “Peril,” written by reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, were reported Sept. 14. Particularly, Woodward and Costa wrote that Milley, worried about President Trump’s actions following the Nov. 3 election, twice called Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, once in November and again in January, to reassure him that the U.S. would not strike China with nuclear weapons. In a Sept. 15 statement, Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler confirmed that the calls took place but defended them as proper and in keeping with Milley’s role.

A vast majority of voters believe nuclear deterrence should be one of the highest priorities for the Department of Defense, with a majority also supporting modernization efforts, according to a new survey. The survey, commissioned by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and run by Seven Letter Insight, asked more than 2,000 voters for their views on national security and nuclear arms, at a time when the Pentagon and Congress are working to replace or update all three legs of the nuclear triad.

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 20 to 22 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each workday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Master Sgt. Hannah Walters, an operations superintendent with the 67th Special Operations Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, U.K.