If Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has his way, the first F-16C model to fly past 7,000 hours will not go to the boneyard at the Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center in Arizona at the end of the year, reports Associated Press (via The Reformer). The fighter, known as Lethal Lady and flown by the Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing in Burlington, reached the 7,000-flying hour mark last month and is slated for grounding later this year. However, Leahy, in a letter to the Air Force last week, has asked to have the aircraft put on display in Vermont. He wrote, “The Lethal Lady has clocked record-setting hours and saved the lives of soldiers and marines in combat, setting new tactical standards,” and added that the aircraft and its aircrews and maintainers “stand as a symbol of the dedication, endurance, and values of the Air National Guard and the entire Air Force.”
In Part 2 of a series exploring the Software Acquisition Pathway that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently made mandatory, we look back at how the acquisition reform has its origins in problems with the F-35.