Thursday afternoon’s hearing of the House Armed Services airland subcommittee on the KC-X tanker program started with testimony by the Government Accountability Office and didn’t pick up with John Young, the Pentagon’s acquisition czar, until after 5:30 p.m. Air Force acquisition executive Sue Payton was pulled from the original witness list for the open session; she was still expected to appear behind closed doors with the panel upon conclusion of yesterday’s public session. We will be updating the column on Friday morning with hearing coverage.
The U.S. and Sweden signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement on Dec. 5 that will strengthen military ties between them and likely lead to U.S. troops and prepositioned gear on Swedish soil. Swedish Defense minister Pal Jonson said the war in Ukraine prompted Sweden's joining NATO and he laid out…