The Pentagon Thursday announced that it had formally begun work on the next Quadrennial Defense Review, which is due to Congress in early 2010. According to the announcement, the 2010 QDR will “address emerging challenges and explore ways to improve the balance of efforts and resources between trying to prevail in current conflicts and preparing for future contingencies.” The Defense Department also plans to conduct a Nuclear Posture Review, the last one was done in 2002, in concert with the Departments of Energy and State and submit it to Congress along with the QDR. The goal of the NPR is to set strategy and policy for the next five to 10 years and to serve as “a basis for the negotiation of a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.”
Dirty hydraulic fluid and freezing weather led to the loss of an F-35 stealth fighter in Alaska this winter when its landing gear froze and convinced the aircraft’s computer that it was on the ground rather than in-flight.
