Based in Washington, Michael Bruno is Aviation Week Network’s Executive Editor for Business. He oversees coverage of aviation, aerospace and defense business issues, and is editor in chief of Aviation Week Executive Intelligence newsletters. Beyond reporting, Bruno helps organize related Aviation Week conferences, hosts podcasts and webinars, and speaks publicly as a subject matter expert on industry issues. Since joining Aviation Week in 2005, he has won several Jesse H. Neal and Aerospace Media awards. He has a master's degree from Syracuse University and a bachelor's from Vanderbilt University.
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants to spend homeland security money on airport security measures as well as aircraft and sensors for border operations. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would get more than $3 billion for airport security under a Homeland Security Dept. funding bill recommended by the panel.
The Senate wants to authorize more money for missile defense and long-term fighter procurement in Fiscal 2007, but its version of the defense authorization bill also eases requirements for U.S.-made specialty metals in military hardware--setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives. However, any reckoning between the two legislative bodies will have to wait until Congress returns from this week's July 4 holiday break.
Amy Butler, Michael Bruno and John M. Doyle (Washington)
In the wake of the Pentagon's decision last year to truncate F-22 buys at 183 stealthy jets, two recent measures in the U.S. Congress could breathe new life into production and sales of the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft. The House of Representatives has overturned a years-old law barring sale of the F-22 abroad, and the Senate has given the Air Force the nod to enter into a multiyear purchasing agreement that could be critical to keep the fighter line open for years to come.
