Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told the House Armed Services Committee that canceling the alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was “a very tough call,” involving long-term reliability statistics and economics. He granted that the service needed an alternate engine for the F-16 fighter because of reliability problems, but he said that today’s engines are much more reliable. “The reliability argument began to eat into whether or not there would be an economic shortfall,” said Wynne. He added that if there were “an extra dollar,” an alternate engine would “be one place” it would be spent. Why? Two reasons, said Wynne: “We do worry about the downstream effects. … I don’t like to see our industrial base go to a single supplier.”
The Air Force will promote 11.64 percent of eligible master sergeants to senior master sergeant this year, continuing a steady upward trajectory. The Air Force Personnel Center announced Feb. 24 that 1,635 Airmen are moving up to E-8 out of 14,041 eligible. The full list of those selected will be posted…