Quick “Change of Leadership” for JSF: Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Feb. 1 he planned to replace Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Heinz, the head of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, with a three-star general officer. (Our Feb. 1 brief, Gates Fires F-35 Manager) Prompted by reporters, Gates added that the new JSF director will probably be named “in a day or so” and Heinz would get a new assignment. Gates said, during the defense budget rollout Feb. 1 that various Pentagon cost estimating teams have uncovered problems that led him to want to elevate the F-35 director to three-star level, commensurate with the program’s importance. Gates also stated that DOD “cannot absorb the additional costs in this program, and the delays, without people being held accountable.” Continue
Defense experts say the drone threat represents only part of a larger, looming problem: U.S. air bases in the Pacific are increasingly vulnerable to air attacks.