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.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.