Senior U.S. lawmakers are praising the Trump administration for green lighting the proposed sale of new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan after the White House informally notified Congress of the $8 billion deal.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps warn that reductions to the Lockheed Martin F-35C would delay establishing a second Marine squadron by up to one year and cuts to the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye would prevent using the aircraft in high-threat environments.

Lockheed Martin displayed a rarely-seen F-35 model loaded with four Cuda air-to-air missiles at a large missile defense conference in Alabama last week, but there is no link between Cuda and a missile defense application, the company says.