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.
Ukrainian troops are finalizing their training to become the first operators of a previously undisclosed U.S. Air Force-developed loitering munition, and the Pentagon said May 6 it came out of the service’s secretive office that handles rapid development of special mission aircraft.
The Pentagon expects to go to Congress with a supplemental funding request next year to increase its budget if inflation continues at a high rate, and a senior defense official is cautioning against lawmakers adding more unsustainable spending for fiscal 2023 as a simple step to address inflation.