The Central Intelligence Agency has co-opted the Air Force to try to reclaim the A-12 Blackbird restored by the Minnesota Air National Guard Museum near the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The CIA now wants to display the spy plane that the Minnesota museum rescued from a scrap heap in 1990. The museum has enlisted the aid of its Congressional delegation.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.