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.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…