Congressmen Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.), writing in an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor Monday, sounded an increased readiness alarm, citing a classified briefing they had received last month. They said it provided “disturbing” details and the “jaw-dropping” implication that the US armed services are “literally at the breaking point.” They call upon the new Democratic Congress to stop the Administration’s “second-class funding” approach, but they also want to ensure that emergency supplementals do not fund developmental programs. At Pentagon urging, the Air Force and the other services took a broader look at war costs in the latest supplementals, but lawmakers have targeted such Air Force requests as F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to replace legacy aircraft lost in the war.
The Royal International Air Tattoo, one of the world’s biggest annual air shows, will permanently move from its longtime home of RAF Fairford, a longtime base for the U.S. Air Force, to a different military installation in the United Kingdom, its organizers announced Nov. 4.