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. Air Force is looking for budget help to address a shortage in its test capacity for hypersonic weapons as it prioritizes what programs can have access to limited infrastructure such as wind tunnels and reaches out to NASA for help.
The U.S. Air Force HH-60W combat rescue helicopter will start initial operational test and evaluation within weeks, as the final stages of engineering and manufacturing development test are wrapping up, the service and Sikorsky said.