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 continued research and development for a possible F-35 engine replacement is needed, even without a commitment to replace the current F135 powerplant, so the U.S. Air Force can keep the option open and the technology evolving, the top service general said Sept. 8.
While the House Armed Services Committee in its $778 billion version of the 2022 defense bill, allows the U.S. Air Force to go ahead with its planned cuts to the A-10 fleet, the committee presses the service to upgrade the attack aircraft with modern defensive systems that both the Air National Guard and Reserve have requested.
The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2022 defense policy bill further reduces the U.S. Air Force’s C-130 fleet, with a member targeting aircraft in his own district as the Guard has pressed to keep more of the aircraft.
