Brian Everstine is the Pentagon Editor for Aviation Week, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Aviation Week in August 2021, Brian covered the Pentagon for Air Force Magazine. Brian began covering defense aviation in 2011 as a reporter for Military Times. Over a decade as a defense journalist, he has reported from dozens of bases at home and abroad, including austere airstrips in Afghanistan, the cockpit of a B-52 over the South Pacific and the boom operator station of a KC-46. Before the military beat, Brian covered the Washington state legislature for the Associated Press.
After awarding about $8 billion in contracts to adversary air and other private air support providers from fiscal 2015 to 2020, the U.S. military services are reviewing the performance of these companies to understand how they can better and more cost-effectively train aircrews.
The U.S. Air Force will start divesting its E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, starting with four of the aircraft in 2022, as the service tries to find its way ahead on the broad Advanced Battle Management System program to fill the aircraft’s role.
