Earlier this 
month, airmen at Edwards AFB, Calif., towed the SR-71A Blackbird that is part of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards over public roads to the base’s corrosion control facility for some primping. This SR-71, serial number 17955, will have its sun-damaged paint redone by expert craftsmen in time for the air show and open house at Edwards in October. (Edwards report by Leonard Moore)
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.