There is no doubt sequestration would “immediately” lead to a severe disruption of the defense supply chain and significantly higher costs—a double-edged sword that may inevitably dog essentially all Defense Department acquisition programs, said Steve Cortese, senior vice president of Washington operations for ATK. “Even if sequestration is a one-time event, it will be very hard to recover from the more expensive” program costs, said Cortese on June 27 during a Senate Aerospace Caucus staff discussion on Capitol Hill. This era of uncertainty is forcing some persons to turn away from the defense business altogether, leading industry experts to fear a more significant brain drain in the not-so-distant future, he said. “It makes it almost impossible for us to help DOD and NASA to plan for [sequestration],” said Cortese.
B-21 Raider First Flight Now Postponed to 2023
May 20, 2022
The Air Force says the B-21 Raider won't make its first flight until 2023; about a six-month delay from the last official estimates. No reason was given for the delay. While other programs have recently chalked up schedule slips to supply chain and labor shortages, the Air Force has said…