USAF’s
F-35 beddown decisions may affect where F-22s end up, according to the service’s installation czar. When the service unveiled it list of 11 candidate locations to host the F-35 next decade, Holloman AFB, N.M., was included as a potential training site. “Holloman scored very high on the training list,” Kathleen Ferguson, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, told reporters Nov. 2. However, she noted, the capacity does not exist “to support both the F-22 and the F-35” at Holloman, which is already in the throes of establishing two combat-ready F-22 squadrons. Ferguson said USAF may consider “the potential to relocate the F-22” as part of the next phase of F-35 beddown process. That news prompted Virginia lawmakers last week to ask USAF for more information on F-22 basing decisions, since they would like to get more Raptors at Langley Air Force Base. Continue
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…