Latest news with #Wilsbach
South China Morning Post
06-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
China's sixth-gen fighter jet leaves US Air Force officials with ‘choices to make'
China's newest fighter jet emerged as a talking point at an American defence conference this week, with US Air Force officials showing more urgency to get their own version of a sixth-generation stealth combat jet. Advertisement They made the call at the annual Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium, held in Colorado from Monday to Wednesday, while discussing the future of a costly fighter jet programme – Next Generation Air Dominance – that was paused last summer. 'We have some choices to make as we observe what China has produced, and we can presume we know what that's for – for air superiority,' US Air Combat Commander Kenneth Wilsbach said during a panel discussion on Tuesday, according to American news outlet Defense One. 'What are we going to do about it? I don't believe that nothing is an option,' he said. US Air Combat Commander Kenneth Wilsbach says doing nothing is not an option. Photo: YouTube Wilsbach was referring to the unofficial debut of two Chinese sixth-generation aircraft prototypes in December that suggests the People's Liberation Army could have an early advantage in the race with its long-range, stealthy J-36.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania man says PennDOT can keep its shiny new license plates – and especially the new numbers
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — It was a new, modern license plate to replace his vintage 2002 Pennsylvania plates, and best of all PennDOT was covering the cost. What wasn't to like about that for John Wilsbach? 'They just don't match up,' Wilsbach said, holding the new plate in front of the current plate, which he says dates from 2002, on his car. To be clear, Wilsbach's replacement plate — like all the ones an enclosed notice explained PennDOT is sending to everyone with the quarter-century-old series of plates Wilsbach has — is not the brand new design PennDOT unveiled last year, which doesn't yet adorn any cars. Wilsbach — whose voice is familiar to many central Pennsylvanians as someone who knows all about what's on the backs of cars, from brake lights to license plates (he's the morning traffic reporter for eight radio stations) — has two complaints: One, he's glad PennDOT didn't charge him for the new plate he didn't ask for but doesn't understand why the state has to spend the money at all (about $7 per plate, including shipping, PennDOT says) to replace plates that — in his case, at least — look to be in decent shape. Two, and most important: the new license plate numbers are different from the random numbers on the old plates they're replacing for people who don't pay for personalized vanity plates. The problem with that, according to Wilsbach: the hassle of having to change his registered plate with everyone from E-ZPass to perhaps his car insurance company and — for people who live in gated communities — the association. Then there are all the parking apps if you don't want to go to a kiosk, and if you do go to a kiosk or check in at a hotel and have to provide a plate number… well, now there's a new license plate to memorize. Wilsbach's question: 'Why should I have something totally different?' 'Reissuing the same registration plate numbers would create significant increases in time and cost to special order each plate configuration,' said Aimee Inama, a PennDOT spokesperson. But why replace a plate like Wilsbach's old plate at all? 'Over time registration plates fade and the reflectivity fails,' Inama said. 'Even if the plate appears in overall good condition, they become difficult to read by both the human eye and license plate reading technology. The registration plates being replaced are over 20 years old, well past the warranty period to maintain reflectivity.' One thing Wilsbach and other people automatically getting replacement plates won't have to worry about: soon having to replace them again after the liberty bell plates make their debut. 'The new Liberty Bell registration plates are not in circulation yet,' Inama said. 'The current registration plates will not become obsolete as we begin issuing the new style plate. PennDOT also will continue using the current plate until the stock is depleted.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
