Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has said the service branch completed the initial round of test flights for light-attack aircraft on Aug. 30 at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Wilson told the publication in a Thursday interview the military branch plans to wrap up reports on each aircraft’s performance and cost by the end of 2017.

“I would expect this fall, or certainly by December or January, that we would make a decision on whether to do a follow-on experiment — it would be a combat experiment — and which aircraft might participate in that,” Wilson said.

“I’m not sure exactly what missions they would run, but one of the things we can do is see how it connects up with command-and-control systems, those kinds of things,” she added.

The report said the Air Force’s OA-X demonstration commenced in late July and saw the participation of several industry teams that include L3 Technologies and Air Tractor; Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer; and Textron.

The L3-Air Tractor team demonstrated the AT-802L Longsword aircraft, while Sierra Nevada and Embraer flew their A-29 Super Tucano plane.

Textron showcased its AT-6 Wolverine and Scorpion jet at the OA-X experiment that seeks to help the Air Force determine whether to advance the procurement of light-attack planes, the report added.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Robert Behler, chief operating officer and deputy director of the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, as director of operational test and evaluation at the Defense Department.

Behler has led SEI’s software engineering and security initiatives that aimed to help address national cyber challenges, the White House said in a release published Saturday.

He previously served as president and chief operations officer at SRC, senior vice president and general manager at Mitre and business area executive for precision engagement at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The retired U.S. Air Force major general also held the roles of commanding general at the Air Force Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center and deputy commander at NATO’s Joint Headquarters North.

Behler was also an experimental test pilot who flew more than 65 aircraft variants during his 31-year military career.

He is currently a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronauts and a member of both the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and Air Force Association.

Lucian Niemeyer, newly appointed assistant defense secretary for installations, has said the Defense Department backs a Senate bill that would push for a new round of base realignment and closures, Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), SASC ranking member, drafted the measure as a possible amendment to the upper chamber’s fiscal 2018 defense policy bill that is scheduled for debate this month.

Niemeyer said Tuesday at a Heritage Foundation event the BRAC authorization that seeks to shut down underutilized military facilities could help DoD generate savings and focus on the development of new military platforms.

“For us, it’s not just a matter of finding efficiencies, it’s a matter of improving the military value and the effectiveness and lethality of our military forces,” he said.

“That’s why we continue to push hard, and we support the Senate’s attempt to try to get a BRAC authorization inserted into the [2018] defense authorization act.”

The Hill also reported the draft proposal from McCain and Reed would require DoD to compile and submit a list of potential military base closures to the Government Accountability Office for review.

The White House-certified BRAC list should be submitted to Congress by the fall of 2019 under the proposed bill.

The Senate measure would also impose a $5 billion cap on military base closures and would direct DoD to begin BRAC by 2021, the report added.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has introduced a bill that would authorize $7.9 billion in emergency funds for Hurricane Harvey response and recovery operations.

The proposed legislation includes $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s Disaster Relief Fund and provides the full amount requested by the Trump administration, according to a press release posted Sunday on Frelinghuysen’s website.

The disaster relief package also contains $450 million for the Small Business Administration‘s disaster loan program to help small businesses and homeowners rebuild destroyed property.

“These funds will be used to continue life-saving response and recovery missions, help start housing repair, and provide speedy and low-interest loans to businesses and homeowners to start the rebuilding process,” said Frelinghuysen.

He added that ongoing recovery efforts will require additional support and the House Appropriations Committee will continue to work with the administration to provide funds in the future.

The North Carolina National Guard has conducted new equipment training activities near Fort Bragg for six weeks to evaluate the latest model of the Textron-built RQ-7BV2 Shadow tactical unmanned aerial system.

The U.S. Army said Friday that the latest model features several upgrades which help meet NATO regulations on interoperability and communications security as well as allow for increased range and longer flight duration.

AAI Corp, a Textron subsidiary, develops the Shadow TUAS platform which offers force protection, reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition capacity for Brigade Combat Teams.

“The Shadow as a platform… gives us capabilities for our military intelligence company in support of the 30th Brigade,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Stephen Isaacs, commander of the North Carolina National Guard’s Detachment 1.

The Army noted that NET works to help soldiers to familiarize themselves with the new aircraft without time constrictions and limitations usually faced during drill weekends.

Senior U.S. government officials have urged members of the United Nations Security Council to ban the sales of oil and other fuel products to North Korea as part of efforts to help deter the country’s nuclear weapons development and test efforts, The New York Times reported Monday.

The U.S. is in private talks with the council to include fuel-related sanctions in a draft resolution and called for the implementation of such policy after North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb under the ground.

“Despite our efforts over the past 24 years, the North Korean nuclear program is more advanced and more dangerous than ever,” said Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the UN.

“We have taken an incremental approach… and despite the best of intentions, it has not worked,” Haley added.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a statement published Sunday that he and other Defense Department officials held a small group national security meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to address provocations on the Korean peninsula.

Mattis noted that all United Nations Security Council members unanimously committed to support international denuclearization efforts in the region.

“Any threat to the United States, or its territories – including Guam – or our allies will be met with a massive military response,” he added.