Basic military training graduates heading from Lackland AFB, Tex., to Keesler AFB, Miss., for follow-on technical training will now arrive by chartered commercial airliner and no longer by bus as had been the practice for decades. WLOX TV 13 of Biloxi, Miss., reported that the first crop of airmen to fly in arrived Monday at Keesler and appeared happy to have been spared the 10-hour bus ride of their predecessors. A Keesler spokesman told the Daily Report on Tuesday that Keesler was the last of the Air Force’s technical training bases to phase out the busses. (See also Keesler release)
Exasperated with the delays to the F-35’s Tech Refresh 3 update—which has held up deliveries of completed fighters since last fall—the House Armed Services Committee wants to slash the military services’ fiscal 2025 F-35 purchase by at least 10 aircraft and as much as 20.