Lena Kovacs

Purdue University in West Lafayette has finished a large step in high-speed flight study. The new Hypersonics Applied Research Facility (HARF) cost about $41 million and covers near 65 000 sq ft. It sits inside the Discovery Park District, close to existing engine and rocket labs. Managers say the building links theory with hardware, letting ideas move from slide deck to test article without months of delay.

The Government Accountability Office released two companion studies dated April 25 that paint a stark picture of the F-35’s technical health and budget outlook. The auditors describe a fighter still haunted by fresh defects even as procurement ramps up. They note that a jammed main fuel-throttle valve can lock the engine at full power and fling the jet forward until the pilot shuts everything down. Test crews first spotted the surge during carrier workups in late 2017, and engineers have yet to seal the fix.