The Air Force and Lockheed Martin appear to have worked out a plan that would cure Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile test misfires and put it back on sound financial footing. Richard Burnett of the Orlando Sentinel reports that USAF and Lockheed will jointly finance a get-well plan through March 2008, when the Air Force must finally decide whether to proceed with procurement. Lockheed told the Sentinel that it has “solved the glitches that cause the test misfires.” Earlier this month, Sue Payton, USAF’s top acquisition official, told Dow Jones Newswires that the service was working with the company on a “preventive plan,” signaling the Pentagon had granted a reprieve from termination.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.