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. Air Force’s MQ-9 is the only aircraft with the right capabilities for over-the-horizon surveillance and airstrikes in Afghanistan, though the service is phasing out the drone and giving U.S. Central Command fewer aircraft to fly the missions. But CENTCOM’s head of operations said he still agrees with the USAF plan.
The F-35 Joint Program Office is hoping to pick up the pace of deploying its new logistics system in 2022 and take other steps to improve the deployability of the aircraft such as reducing the size of spare packages the jets need.
The Pentagon’s need for test and evaluation of new weapons systems will soon overtake the department’s capacity, at a time when senior defense officials say fast acquisition of new technologies is critical.
