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.
The U.S. Army is planning to deliver 24 of its 35 top modernization priorities by fiscal 2023, and if budget restrictions necessitate it the service will look first at cutting legacy systems and then so-called enduring programs to protect the new ones.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s top funding priority, missile defense for Guam, is likely to slip beyond the required original targeted fielded date of 2026, with the command waiting for the Pentagon’s 2023 budget to outline the way forward.
The U.S. Air Force has cleared the KC-46 to refuel five more aircraft types as part of a rollout of interim capabilities before the tanker is fully operational.
