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 expected to bear the brunt of budget cutbacks when the Pentagon’s spending plan is finally rolled out, and that could require some bold moves including ending what the service had said is its top aviation procurement priority.
Move faster and don’t be afraid to fail. That was the message from top Pentagon leaders to a group of more than a dozen company leaders on Feb. 3 during a virtual meeting urging faster adoption of hypersonic weapons in the face of Chinese advancement.
