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Pentagon

F-35 Still Struggling With Readiness Woes, DoD Tester Says

By Marc Selinger

Thursday, January 25th, 2018

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F-35 Still Struggling With Readiness Woes, DoD Tester Says

The Air Force's F-35A conventional variant. Photo: Air Force.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s new fleet of F-35 Lightning IIs is making little progress in overcoming its readiness problems, according to a new report by the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester.“Reliability growth has stagnated,“ Robert Behler, DoD’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), wrote in his fiscal year 2017 annual report. “Overall fleet-wide monthly availability rates remain around 50 percent, a condition that has existed with no significant improvement since October 2014, despite the increasing number of new aircraft.” A…

Pentagon

Hegseth Acknowledges Potential $200 Billion Iran Supplemental Request, Final Figure ‘Could Move’

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Congress

Counter-Drone Flyaway Kit Used In U.S. In Early Hours Of Iran Strikes, NORTHCOM Head Says

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Army

Army Taking ‘More Refined’ Approach On Push For Right To Repair Reforms, Obadal Says

After lawmakers decided against including major “right to repair” reforms in the latest defense policy bill, a senior Army official has said the service is continuing its push for authorities […]

Unmanned Systems

Counter-Drone Needs Will Be Addressed In Next NDAA Based On Iran War Lessons, Banks Says

A Republican senator on Armed Services Committee on Thursday said that defending against Iranian drones has been challenge for U.S. warfighters and will be an area of focus in the […]