Among the highlights of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s changes to the Fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill are a $102.5 million plus-up to continue E-8C Joint STARS re-engining and the inclusion of $337 million to fully fund the Air Force’s unfunded requirements for sustainment. While the panel supported USAF’s request for 22 F-35s in the baseline budget, it denied the service’s proposal to acquire one additional F-35 to replace an F-15E lost in combat. Unlike the House Armed Services Committee, the SASC did not add funding for the F-35’s F-136 engine (see Still Swinging above). It stuck to the Administrations 1.4 percent pay raise request (the HASC approved a 1.9 percent increase). And like the full House voted on May 27, the SASC included a provision that clears the way for the Pentagon to repeal the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military. (SASC markup summary)
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…