First, the login info

Sorry this is late - life got in the way. Below is tonight’s login info in case anybody needs it. We start at 5:30 PM Pacific.

Second, tonight’s stories

Like when Isaac did this, we start with the difficult/dark first and go to happy/brightest last.

• Val Kilmer passes on

  • ‘Top Gun’: Forget Maverick, Iceman Is the Real Hero

  • Farewell, Iceman: How Val Kilmer got his nickname in 'Top Gun'

• Canada Report - no politics please:

  • Canada ‘can’t afford’ to ditch F-35 - Billie Flynn blog

  • Article Security as a Pillar of National Defence - Northern Sentinels Podcast, <18 minutes long

  • RCAF Snowbirds having May spring training… after some issues

• NGAD winner is Boeing F-47….

  • My round-up for Simple Flying with most if not all of the initial news

  • The War Zone: Major F-47 Revelations Were Just Dropped By Former Air Force Secretary

  • Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast [Mar 27, 25] Season 3 E12: The Secret History, 53 minute podcast

  • Frank Kendall op-ed: Did the Trump administration move too quickly to commit to the F-47?

• US Navy holds another two meetings on Whidbey about… jet noise (A YouTuber is working on a video with me so this is our designated skip story.)

  • Stripes.com report

  • My Simple Flying preview

• Space Report: Dogfights in low Earth orbit?

  • Defense News: China demonstrated ‘satellite dogfighting,’ Space Force general says

  • US Space Force Warns Of Chinese Satellite 'Dogfights' In Space

  • For more info about the Space Force: Gen B. Chance Saltzman | Mitchell Institute Schriever Spacepower Series, 60 minute talk

• Program updates from Air-Sea-Space and AFA Warfare Symposium:

  • National Defense Magazine: EXCLUSIVE: Navy Reveals Proprotor Gearbox Fix Coming for Troubled Osprey Fleet

  • Simple Flying: Exclusive: Lockheed Martin Expert On The Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green II

  • Simple Flying: Exclusive: Boeing Update On F-15EX Program

  • Simple Flying: RTX Update On StormBreaker & PhantomStrike Radar & More

• Final topic: Air & Space Forces Association Doolittle Raiders Toast

• After-chat

How I wish to run these calls…

You may have noticed I grouped stories & podcasts under general topics. That’s so we get the best picture of the topic possible.

I hope we can please keep discussions focused on the topic on hand and not politics.

I did hope we could get a guest on, but she is working at capacity right now preparing for the Mitchell Toast Thursday in Seattle so rather not add to her duties.

Finally, please bear with me as my learning curve right now is pretty steep - Beehiv for newsletters, Zoom for our calls, and Part 107 for commercial drone work.

JOE SENDS