According to a brief report by the Honolulu Advertiser, Air Force and Hawaii Air National Guard officials are trying to resurrect construction of an assault landing runway at the joint use Kona International Airport. Pacific Air Forces believes it can save money by having active and Air Guard C-17 crews based at Hickam Air Force Base train at home rather than having the expense of sending them to continental US fields, where schedules often conflict. However, PACAF hadn’t yet been able to secure the money to construct the notional 4,000-foot assault tactics strip at the airfield shared by Hickam and the Kona airport.
The Pentagon awarded a contract worth over $2 billion for the next batch of F-35 engines to Pratt & Whitney on June 5. The deal for Lot 17 F135 engines, totaling $2.02 billion, is expected to be completed by December 2025.