First Aid or Major Surgery

According to InsideDefense.com, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is considering, as part of its Fiscal 2011 budget deliberations, pumping billions of extra dollars into the F-35 stealth fighter program, extending the aircraft’s development by at least one year, and delaying the purchase of 100 F-35s between now and the middle of next decade. These moves, if adopted in the Pentagon’s budget proposal that goes to Congress next February, would ostensibly vindicate the F-35 Joint Estimate Team that warned earlier this year that the F-35 program still faces lengthy delays and could require hefty funding infusions to stay on track. (InsideDefense.com requires a subscription, but offers readers a limited trial run) (For more on this issue, read The F-35 Dice Roll the December editorial by Air Force Magazine Editor in Chief Robert Dudney.)