A group of U.S. Air Force maintainers and pilots from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base has deployed a Lockheed Martin-built F-35A to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for an air-to-air combat training exercise.

The service branch said Monday its F-35A pilots will fly the aircraft alongside other fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft platforms as part of the Red Flag exercise to demonstrate defensive and offensive counter air, enemy defense suppression and limited close air support tasks.

The conventional takeoff-and-landing jet was declared by Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of the Air Combat Command, as combat ready in August 2016 after the aircraft met initial operational capability requirements.

“Our Reserve pilots and maintainers are looking forward to putting the F-35A weapon system to the test alongside our active duty partners,” said Col. David Smith, commander of the 419th Flight Wing.

Red Flag offers experience on multiple, intensive air combat sorties to the service branch’s aircrews while in the safety of a controlled training environment.

Senior U.S. Navy officials have decided to retain the Advanced Arresting Gear as the recovery system aboard Ford-class aircraft carriers.

The Naval Air Systems Command said Monday the AAG Resource Requirements Review Board chose to continue with AAG instead of reverting to the Mk-17 legacy recovery system after the board completed a review in November 2016.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, co-chaired the board.

NAVAIR noted that AAG faced delays in developmental tests as well as design challenges in the water twister component over the past years.

Rear Adm. Mike Moran, the Navy’s program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, said the government and contractor team implemented a build-test-fix software methodology and hardware changes in an effort to boost AAG’s performance.

The system has conducted 1,400 dead-load arrestments and 351 test arrestments of the F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft as of December 2016.

AAG has moved forward with a land-based test program and currently undergoes commissioning tests aboard USS Gerald R. Ford, NAVAIR added.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) has proposed $7.5 billion in U.S. military funds to boost munition inventory and construct infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region through 2022, Reuters reported Monday.

David Brunnstrom writes McCain included the military funding proposal in his “Restoring American Power” white paper that seeks budget to increase the capabilities of U.S. forces and allies amid tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“These funds would boost operational military construction, increase munitions procurement, enhance capacity building with allies and partners, and expand military exercises and other training activities,” said Dustin Walker, a spokesman for McCain, according to the report.

Reuters also quoted a government official as saying that McCain’s proposal generally aligns with the Trump administration’s goals for the APAC region.

Heather Wilson, former U.S. representative from New Mexico, will be nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the Air Force, DoD News reported Monday.

Wilson’s “distinguished military service, high level of knowledge and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nation’s Air Force with the greatest competence and integrity,” Trump said in a White House news release published Monday.

Wilson currently serves as president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

During her 11-year tenure in Congress, she served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence and a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Armed Services Committee.

Wilson served on the National Security Council during President George H.W. Bush’s administration and an Air Force officer in Europe during the Cold War.

The U.S. Air Force Academy graduate is a Rhodes Scholar who holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Oxford University.

Wilson would be the third female Air Force secretary once confirmed, the report added.

John Kelly, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general and former head of the U.S. Southern Command, took his oath of office as the country’s fifth homeland security secretary after he received Senate confirmation Friday.

The 45-year military veteran now leads the Department of Homeland Security and its components that include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Secret Service, DHS said Friday.

Kelly previously held senior command roles in Iraq and served as senior military assistant to the defense secretary.

He also worked as legislative assistant to the commandant at the Marine Corps headquarters; special assistant to the supreme allied commander in Europe; and commandant’s liaison officer to the House of Representatives, among other positions.

The Senate has confirmed James Mattis, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general and former chief of the U.S. Central Command, as defense secretary under President Donald Trump’s administration, The Hill newspaper reported Friday.

Rebecca Kheel writes Trump signed a waiver legislation to exempt Mattis from a law that requires the Defense Department‘s civilian leader to be out of military service for at least seven years.

Reuters reported Saturday the Senate approved James Mattis in a 98-1 vote Friday to lead DoD and confirmed John Kelly, former commander of the U.S. Southern Command, to head the Department of Homeland Security through a separate 88-11 vote.

The upper chamber plans to meet again on Monday to take up the nomination of Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas) as CIA director, according to the report by Patricia Zengerle.

The report said Trump urged members of the Senate to confirm the remaining cabinet nominees as soon as possible.