The U.S. military continues to make progress fielding a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) battery in South Korea but might not declare it operational until after that country’s May 9 presidential election, according to a White House foreign policy adviser.

“It should be a decision for the next president,” the adviser told reporters April 16, according to a transcript released by the White House. The adviser’s comments came during Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the region.

The two leading presidential candidates are reportedly split on THAAD, with Ahn Cheol-soo supporting the deployment and Moon Jae-in pledging to review the issue amid Chinese opposition to the system. The winner will replace President Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office due to a corruption scandal.

In July, the United States and South Korea agreed to the THAAD fielding in response to North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons development. Elements of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] system, including truck-mounted interceptor launchers, began arriving in South Korea in early March. U.S. Forces Korea officials have indicated that the system would become operational by May.

THAAD is designed to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles inside or outside the Earth’s atmosphere in their final phase of flight.

The first Europe-bound training deployment of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A Joint Strike Fighter was made official April 15 when several of the jets touched down at Royal Air Force base Lakenheath, England.

It is the aircraft’s first overseas training deployment to Europe, though short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) versions of the aircraft flew across the Atlantic to participate in the Farnborough Air Show in 2016.

The F-35As are from the 34th Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 466th Fighter Squadron, 419th Fighter Wing, all based at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. They will conduct air training over the next several weeks with other Europe-based aircraft in support of the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI).

“This is an incredible opportunity for USAFE Airmen and our NATO allies to host this first overseas training deployment of the F-35A aircraft,” said Gen. Tod D. Wolters, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and Africa. “As we and our joint F-35 partners bring this aircraft into our inventories, it’s important that we train together to integrate into a seamless team capable of defending the sovereignty of allied nations.”

The Air Force made its F-35A battle-ready in 2016 with a declaration in late summer of initial operational capability. The Air Force had plans to deploy the jets to Europe before the ERI was put into place to bolster NATO against Russian saber rattling along the alliance’s eastern frontier.

“RAF Lakenheath will be the first overseas beddown location for the F-35A, this deployment allows our pilots and maintainers to learn more about the European operating environment and will improve our interoperability with partners in the region” Wolters added.

As part of the training deployment, the aircraft will forward-deploy to NATO nations to maximize training opportunities, build partnerships with allied air forces and gain a broad familiarity of Europe’s diverse operating conditions, according to the F-35 Joint Program Office.

The introduction of the fifth-generation fighter to the European area of responsibility brings with it state-of-the-art sensors, interoperability, and a broad array of advanced air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions that will help maintain the fundamental sovereignty rights of all nations, the Defense Department said.

The transatlantic flight for this training deployment was supported by Air Mobility Command and the 100th Air Refueling Wing based at RAF Mildenhall, England. Multiple air refueling aircraft from four different bases offloaded more than 400,000 pounds of fuel during the “tanker bridge” from the United States to Europe. Additionally, C-17 and C-5 aircraft provided airlift support, moving maintenance equipment and personnel.

President Donald Trump has launched an investigation into steel imports and could impose a tariff on steel produced overseas if it is found to cost American jobs or threaten national security.

Trump signed a memorandum April 20 that directs the Secretary of Commerce to investigate whether steel imports cost jobs within the U.S. steel industry and submit a report with 270 days.

“Maintaining the production of American steel is extremely important to our national security and our defense industrial base,” Trump said during an Oval Office signing ceremony on April 20. “Steel is critical to both our economy and our military. This is not an area where we can afford to become dependent on foreign countries.”

Specifically the investigation will focus on whether imported steel displaces domestic production, has any negative effects on government revenue and “any harm steel imports cause to the economic welfare of the United States, recognizing the close relationship between economic prosperity and national security.”

A spokeswoman for Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] – builder of Navy ships including nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers and therefore a consumer of enormous quantities of steel – on April 20 told sister publication Defense Daily that all of its steel is domestically sourced.

Lockheed Martin [LMT], one of two companies that provides the Littoral Combat Ship to the U.S. Navy, only uses domestically produced steel on its vessel, a company spokeswoman told sister publication Defense Daily. She also said the company doesn’t use steel from China on the F-35 fighter.

The memorandum contains language that seems to preempt the results of the investigation it orders, claiming in the text that “artificially low prices caused by excess capacity and unfairly traded imports suppress profits in the American steel industry.”

That, in turn “discourages long-term investment in the industry and hinders efforts by American steel producers to research and develop new and better grades of steel,” the memo says.

“If the present situation continues, it may place the American steel industry at risk by undermining the ability of American steel producers to continue investment and research and development, and by reducing or eliminating the jobs needed to maintain a pool of skilled workers essential for the continued development of advanced steel manufacturing,” the memo warns.

If the Commerce Department finds that steel imports “threaten to impair the national security” Trump may take “several actions” including tariffs, according to a statement from the White House.

“Core industries such as steel (including specialty steel unique to defense applications), aluminum, vehicles, aircraft, shipbuilding, and semiconductors are critical elements of our manufacturing and defense industrial bases, which we must defend against unfair trade practices and other abuses,” Trump’s memo reads. “In the case of steel, both the United States and global markets for steel products are distorted by large volumes of excess capacity ‑‑ much of which results from foreign government subsidies and other unfair practices.”

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) quickly issued a statement in support of the investigation, claiming a global oversupply of steel has cost 14,000 steel jobs.

“Massive global steel overcapacity has resulted in record levels of dumped and subsidized foreign steel coming into the U.S. and the loss of nearly 14,000 steel jobs,” AISI President and Chief Executive Thomas J. Gibson said in a prepared statement. “The Administration launching this investigation is an impactful way to help address the serious threat posed by these unfair foreign trade practices, and we applaud this bold action.”

“The domestic steel industry is the backbone of our manufacturing sector, and our continued ability to meet our national security needs is dependent on the industry remaining competitive in the global marketplace,” he added.

The European Commission on April 19 cleared the proposed $2.7 billion acquisition by Advent International of Safran Group’s Morpho identity solutions enterprise with the one condition that Morpho’s smart card payment business in France be divested.

Advent and Safran agreed that Morpho’s French subsidiary CPS, which supplies payment smart cards to banking customers in France, will be divested to maintain competition in Europe.

Advent International, a U.S.-based private equity firm, last October announced the agreement for Safran’s biometrics and identity solutions business, which will be combined with Oberthur Technologies (OT), a leader in embedded digital security technology. Advent owns a stake in OT.

Safran, which is based in France as is its identity business, also recently, sold its detection division to Britain’s Smiths Group so that it can focus on its core aerospace and defense work.

Safran Identity and Security (I&S) offers a range of biometric capture technologies, identity matching systems, and other identity solutions, and also has a strong presence in the U.S. The business had about $2 billion in sales in 2016. OT had about $1.3 billion in sales in 2015.

Bpifrance, a subsidiary of the French state, will also make an equity business in I&S alongside Advent.

The State Department approved a possible $295.6 million Foreign Military Sales request to Iraq for equipment for two Peshmerga infantry brigades and two support artillery battalions.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the potential sale on April 18.

The request includes the possible sale of equipment needed to fully outfit two full Peshmerga Regional Brigades of light infantry and two artillery battalions that will provide support to those brigades.

Equipment requested includes: 4,400 M16A4 rifles; 46 M2 50 caliber machine guns; 186 M240B machine guns; 36 M1151 HMMWVs; 77 M1151 up-armored HMMWVs; 12 Three Kilowatt Tactical Quiet Generator sets; body armor, helmets, and other Organization Clothing and Individual Equipment; small arms and associated accessories including tripods, cleaning kits, magazines, and mounts; mortar systems and associated equipment; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive detection and protective equipment; and dismounted and mounted radio systems.

They also request commercial navigation equipment including compasses, binoculars, and Geospatial Position System (GPS) limited to the Standard Positioning System (SPS); M1142 HMMWVs (Humvees); medical equipment; Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles; cargo and transportation equipment, including light tactical vehicles, medium tactical vehicles, water trucks, fuel trucks, and ambulances; 36 refurbished M119A2 105mm howitzers; and spare parts, training and associated equipment related to the mentioned vehicles and artillery systems.

DSCA noted these units will operate under the Kurdistan Regional Governments Ministry of Peshmerga with the concurrence of the central government. The Peshmerga are the military forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

The primary contractors include AM General, Oshkosh Corp. [OSK], Navistar International Corp. [NAV], Harris Corp. [HRS], and Colt.

Iraqi forces will use this equipment to continue to degrade and defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, DSCA said.

The agency also said implementation of this sale will not require the deployment of additional U.S. government or contractor personnel to Iraq.

Britain’s Smiths Group earlier in April said it has completed its acquisition of Morpho Detection from France’s Safran Group.

Smiths Group must still divest Morpho’s explosive trace detection business, which both European and U.S. required as a condition for approving the $710 million deal that was first announced in April 2016.

Smiths Group’s Smiths Detection business already has an ETD product line. The three main competitors worldwide for ETD units are Smiths, Morpho and L3 Technologies [LLL]. China’s NucTec also sells the technology.

Potential buyers Morpho’s ETD line include Leidos [LDOS] and OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems business unit, industry officials believe. Smiths is supposed to divest Morpho’s ETD business within three months of the U.S. Justice Department approving the deal, which happened on March 30.

The acquisition provides Smiths Detection with a strong product line of explosives detection systems that automatically screen checked bags for explosives at airports worldwide.

Morpho Detection had $320 million in sales in 2015, half of which came from aftermarket services, including software. Smiths also said that Morpho has a strong networking background that will helpful in offering future networked solutions.