Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has directed service officials to streamline foreign military sales of Air Force equipment by pre-approving the sales of certain types of equipment and identifying what types of equipment allies should buy. James, speaking Dec. 2 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., said she had returned from a recent trip to partner nations in the Middle East, where allies said they want faster approval to buy more US-made equipment. While speeding up the process requires congressional action, the Air Force can find ways to streamline sales. James has directed Heidi Grant, the service’s deputy undersecretary for international affairs, to develop a strategy to identify capabilities the Air Force would like partners to acquire and find ways to pre-approve some sales. This move could “cut the process down by weeks,” James said. During the recent visits to partner countries, allied services said they also would want more joint training and exercises to build capability for operations, such as the ongoing battle against ISIS. (For more from James’ speech, see also Airmen Integral Part of Expeditionary Targeting Force and Protecting LRS-B.)
The final version of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill calls for adding $1.2 billion to the Space Force’s research and development accounts, an increase that’s mostly split between two efforts: expanding the service’s low-Earth orbit data transport network and boosting its space-based missile warning and tracking capabilities.
