At Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., company pilot William Bridgeman pilots the Douglas X-3 Stiletto to the highest speed this grossly underpowered research aircraft will reach, Mach 1.21—and this only comes after he put the aircraft in a shallow dive. The X-3 was designed to fly at sustained speeds above Mach 2 for longer than 30 minutes at high altitudes.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
