Congressmen on Sunday morning passed the 2008 defense appropriations bill by a vote of 395 to 13, just squeezing it in before heading off for their August recess. The measure provides funding for 20 F-22 Raptors and 12 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (six for USAF and six for the Marine Corps) and, as we noted earlier, restores health care funding to offset the Administration’s proposed Tricare fee hike for retirees. The Senate will take up the spending measure after the break.
A Defense Department team on the ground in Ukraine has been assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops have gathered on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance…