Lawmakers who take opposite views on the need for the F-22 Raptor agreed on one thing during Thursday’s Center for Strategic and International Studies program on tactical aviation issues—the decision to limit the buy to 187 aircraft appears devoid of strategic analysis. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), in whose state the F-22 is assembled, agreed with two retired military aviators (see above), saying the cuts were “purely budget-driven choices made without any analysis of the risk” to national strategy. Even Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), an F-22 critic, said he was dismayed that “the strategic template for ‘why?’ was missing” from the April 6 announcements.
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…