Making a “Long Beach” Day:
According to the Long Beach Press Telegram, House Appropriators on the defense subcommittee have added $100 million into the President’s war on terror supplemental funding request—specifically to sustain the Boeing C-17 program’s supply base. They want to ensure the supplier stay on board while Congress and the Pentagon wrangle over whether to build more than 180 C-17 airlifters. The addition still must face the full House and the Senate, but sentiment in both would seem to favor buying more of the new strategic airlifters.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.