Signing a five-year performance-based logistics contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by the start of fiscal 2021 is going to be a “challenge,” a Lockheed Martin executive says.

Lockheed Martin sees Poland’s defense industry as a potential low-cost manufacturing source for the F-35 program, as “upward pressure” continues to grow on aircraft prices beyond Lot 14 partly due to the loss of Turkey as a low-cost manufacturing source.

“We are looking at other options from China in the form of the Z-10ME,” Maj. Gen. Syed Najeeb Ahmed, commander of Pakistani Army Aviation, told the International Military Helicopter conference here in London.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper is awaiting a “range of options” from U.S. Transportation Command on how the Pentagon should tackle the lack of aerial refueling capacity.

Current Arconic chief executive John Plant will keep the reins of the new aerospace-focused Howmet Aerospace, becoming executive chairman of the critical supplier and co-CEO alongside Tolga Oal.

Britain has begun a deep review of its foreign policy in a move which will likely lead to significant adjustments to the capabilities of the country’s armed forces.

Norway has deployed its F-35s to Iceland, marking the first deployment of the type by the Nordic air force.

For decades, the top role as Chief of Air Staff in Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has been the preserve of either pilots or aircrewmen. But that tradition could be turned on its head.