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 U.S. Army is planning multiple, critical live-fire tests of its Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon—assessing the common hypersonic glide body, two-stage rocket motor and ground systems—as it moves toward a fielding date of late 2023.
The U.S. Air Force has issued an inspection order to international partners flying the C-130H after it grounded its own fleet due to cracks found in aircraft propellers during depot maintenance.
The KC-46’s new remote vision system will not be operational until October 2025, a 19-month delay from the previous plan as the U.S. Air Force and Boeing negotiate subcontractor development timelines as well as both service and FAA airworthiness processes.
