Le Bourget, France —Air Force acquisition executive David Van Buren, addressing an international audience here Tuesday at the Paris Air Show, said “efficiencies will not be enough” in reaching spending levels demanded in future US defense budgets. “We will have to make strategic choices” about missions and capabilities to retain, Van Buren said. The Pentagon’s comprehensive review of choices, he said, is to be complete in time to prepare the next defense budget (Fiscal 2013), which starts working up this summer. Van Buren said even the targets may change, and spending levels could go lower still. With a new Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs Chairman coming in, “we’re in a period of transition,” and spending discussions may go in a new direction, he acknowledged.
Air Force Conducts Test Launch of Minuteman III ICBM
May 21, 2025
The Air Force tested an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif,. at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time May. 21. The successful test saw the missile equipped with a single reentry vehicle travel more than 4,200 miles to strike a test site near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall…