The F-35 program office plans to get regional repair centers to compete for work on the international F-35 fighter fleet, program manager Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan said Wednesday. Two to three “heavy airframe and engine” repair facilities will be certified in each of three regions: North America, the Pacific, and Europe, from among countries that are actually buying the fighter, said Bogdan during the COMDEF 2014 conference in Washington, D.C. Each repair facility will get a minimum amount of work equal to the total number of F-35s it buys “to justify that country’s investment.” However, more efficient facilities stand to get the lion’s share of work—perhaps “60-70 percent” if they offer “best value pricing” over a given three-year contract period, he said. There’s legwork to be done to see if a given country that wants the work—not all partners do, he said—is capable of doing it. US F-35s based overseas would be repaired at such facilities, Bogdan said; partner jets in the US would be fixed here.
NASA Boss: Race to Moon Has National Security Stakes
Sept. 15, 2026
NASA is pushing hard to get astronauts back to the moon by 2028—and the urgency is driven in no small part by the national security implications of doing so before China does, Administrator Jared Isaacman said Sept. 15.
