South Burlington council to discuss joining F-35 lawsuit
Officials in South Burlington, Vt., are considering joining a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force regarding F-35 fighter jets.
The city council decided unanimously June 6 to continue to discuss becoming a party in the lawsuit filed in reaction to the military planes’ environmental impact.
The suit claims that the Air Force underestimated the level of noise caused by F-35 jets flying overhead as well as their potential negative impact on health and local property values.
Plaintiffs include the city of Winooski, the Stop the F-35 Coalition and six Chittenden County residents.
Air Force officials have said they expect Vermont’s first F-35 will land at the Vermont Air National Guard base at Burlington International Airport in fall 2019.
The council’s next meeting is June 13. AP
Air Force museum wants current Air Force One for collection
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in southwest Ohio is looking to add the current Air Force One to its collection of historic presidential planes.
A new $40.8 million hangar at the museum near Dayton opens June 8 and officials say they’ve designed the 224,000-square-foot building with the idea of landing the presidential aircraft, the Dayton Daily News reported.
“We made the doors wider on purpose kind of thinking down the road there’s a big airplane out there that we want to get in here,” museum historian Jeff Underwood said.
Underwood said the facility has a “pretty good shot” at landing one of the two VC-25s — the designation given to the planes by the Air Force.
“We have been making sure that the secretary of the Air Force and others in Congress and the press understand how important it is to add either one of those aircraft to this great collection of presidential aircraft we already have,” Underwood said. “It’s very important to the museum because it continues the story that we’ve already started.”
Richard Aboulafia, a senior aerospace analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, said adding the current Air Force One would be a definite draw for tourists and make the area an “even bigger must-see” for aviation buffs.
“I can’t really imagine many other museums having the space, or any other museum taking precedence for one,” he said.
The final decision on the jets won’t be made until the planes are retired within a decade. AP
Raytheon, Aerojet Rocketdyne sign new strategic sourcing agreement
Raytheon and Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. have entered into a new Strategic Sourcing Agreement.
Under the SSA, Aerojet Rocketdyne will act as a principal and long-term supplier of its legacy portfolio of propulsion systems and energetics products for key weapons programs.
“This landmark agreement is an important step forward in collaboration between industry partners and the U.S. government to achieve the objectives of Better Buying Power 3.0,” said Raytheon Missile Systems President Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence. “To realize the benefits of this agreement, industry and the U.S. Government must alter their historic way of doing business – that will result in significant taxpayer savings.”
As part of the agreement, the two companies will jointly pursue affordability initiatives through 2019.
“We are Raytheon’s partner on some of the most important propulsion systems for our nation’s warfighters and national defense programs,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake. “This agreement expands our long-term relationship with Raytheon and is a direct result of our commitment to deliver quality products on schedule, while remaining firmly focused on affordability.”
In 2015, Raytheon presented Aerojet Rocketdyne with an Award for Excellence in Affordability during a supplier conference in Boston, Massachusetts.