Airborne adventure
"Moses Lake is rapidly becoming recognized as a significant center for aviation, and we are excited to showcase the progress in general aviation, particularly the innovative field of (short takeoff and landing) aircraft," airshow Board Chairman Carl Poteete wrote in a statement to the Columbia Basin Herald. "Our airshow provides a unique opportunity for attendees to witness the extraordinary abilities and potential of these impressive aircraft firsthand."
This is the fifth year the air show has been held at Grant County International Airport. The show features a runway loaded with static displays of aircraft both military and civilian, small and large, for people to take an up-close look. There are also a range of veterans' services and other informational booths spread out on the tarmac. Meanwhile, the sky above the airport will be the venue for daredevil demonstrations and competitions.
The list of performers wasn't final on Thursday, explained Marketing Coordinator Lynnsey Evans, but the show's website indicated that some of the performers who thrilled Moses Lake audiences in the past would return. Stunt pilots Yuichi Takagi, Kyle Fowler, Jon Melby and Brad Wursten are all expected to return, according to the website. The U.S. military will also be there, with the Air Force Globemaster III and Navy EA-18G Growlers demonstration teams and Wings of Blue, the Air Force parachute team.
Those plans are all subject to change, Evans warned.
"Things happen with weather, or the military has to go and be somewhere else at last minute," she said.
Wursten's show has an extra element to it, Evans said. Anyone who purchases tickets before June 1 will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a ride in Wursten's MX aircraft MX2, a plane known for its agility and performance. Wursten began building and flying model aircraft when he was 8 years old and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in 50 different types of aircraft, he wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald.
Like last year, the Short Takeoff and Landing, or STOL, competition will make Moses Lake one of the stops on its tour. In a STOL competition, pilots show off their expertise in taking off and landing within a very limited space.
"It's really great in back-country when they're out flying general aviation if you do a quick landing or an unexpected one," Evans said. "Short takeoff and landings are skills that any pilot should know. And out of that came a competition ... What's cool is, for anyone who doesn't know about STOL, or does know about STOL, or wants to get into aviation, they're all out there with their planes, and so it's easy to network with them, bounce ideas off them."
The airshow will also host the World RC Invitational, where radio-controlled aviation enthusiasts put on a show for the fans.
Everything at the Moses Lake Airshow is family-friendly, and that's by design, Evans said.
"There are less and less family friendly events anymore," she said. "So we're really trying to promote that this is a family-friendly event, come on out. We'll have activities for the kids, some STEAM activities, and face painting and balloons."
The board also tries to bring in as many local sponsors and food vendors as possible, Evans added.
Moses Lake has a long history as an aviation hub, Evans said, and last year the show drew about 8,000 attendees.
"The Moses Lake Airshow is a vital economic engine for the city and county, drawing thousands of visitors and filling our local accommodations," Poteete wrote. "We eagerly anticipate welcoming guests from both near and far — our average attendee travels over 100 miles to be here — to join us in celebrating this special fifth anniversary."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
16-07-2025
- Forbes
Why President Donald Trump Might Increase America's Defense Budget
President Trump announces the F-47 Air Force fighter. (Photo by) In a world increasingly shaped by the hard edges of power, the most dangerous illusion is the belief that the United States can deter, compete, and win in future conflicts without major reinvestment in its military. Yet that is exactly the illusion perpetuated by President Trump's proposed fiscal 2026 defense budget. Despite the rhetoric of rebuilding our armed forces, President Trump's budget is smaller than that of his predecessor. Peace Through Strength or a Defense Budget Cut? In March 2024, then-President Biden's 2025 defense request totaled $849.8 billion—an increase of four percent over the previous year. That was not enough to restore readiness or recapitalize the Air Force's geriatric aircraft inventory, but it at least acknowledged the rising tide of global threats. Compare that to President Trump's 2026 defense request: $848.3 billion, a $1.5 billion reduction. Factor in three percent inflation, and that results in a $25.4 billion loss in buying power. This budget is a cut rather than a path to peace through strength. Much has been made of the additional $113 billion for defense contained in the Big Beautiful Bill Act, and while this cash injection undeniably helps accelerate some programs, much of it merely backfills long-term, unfunded requirements. The trouble is that by supplementing defense with a one-time plus-up, the measure does not solve the long-term failure to invest in Air Force and Space Force modernization. Only sustained annual increases in the base defense budget can address that. Victory in future war demands more than slogans. It requires commitment, clarity, and sufficient funding. The Department of the Air Force—comprising the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force—provides the two indispensable military forces upon which all U.S. joint force operations depend. Its ability to achieve and sustain air and space superiority underwrites the success of all other domains. No large-scale U.S. joint force operation can be conducted without some element of the Department of the Air Force. Yet since 1990—35 years—the Air Force has had to conduct continuous combat operations with declining resources. That underfunding of the Air Force for over three decades has eroded combat capacity and capability and driven mounting risk. In the 20 years after 9/11, funding for the Army and Navy was greater than the Air Force—to the tune of $1.3 trillion more for the Army and nearly $1 trillion dollars more for the Navy. The result is the U.S. Air Force is now the oldest, the smallest, and least ready in its 78-year history. The U.S. Air Force is in a Nose Dive Worse, the Department of the Air Force budget is on track to get even smaller over the next five years. In fiscal 2025, the budget calls for retiring 250 Air Force aircraft while buying only 91; the trend accelerates in fiscal 2026, with 340 aircraft retiring against only 76 new aircraft purchases. Today's Air Force has over 2,600 aircraft—about two-thirds of its total inventory—that first flew more than 50 years ago. Fighting capacity continues to shrink. The Air Force possesses less than half the numbers of fighters and bombers it had in 1991—the last time we fought a major regional conflict. The Space Force, meanwhile, is a malnourished youngster. Just over five years old and charged with protecting critical satellites in a contested domain, it lacks the material and human resources to mature into the warfighting service it must become. The recent Operation Midnight Hammer in which U.S. bombers struck three nuclear targets in Iran, prove that air and space superiority remain decisive. But it also raises a sobering question: Can we sustain those operations if a war were to drag on beyond a few weeks? The answer, based on current trends, is no. The Factual Amount of the 2026 Budget Request The Department of the Air Force's 2026 budget request is publicly listed as $301.1 billion, but this figure includes the congressional supplement from the Big Beautiful Bill labeled as "mandatory" that adds $38.6 billion, making the request appear larger. Excluding this supplement, the administration's actual budget request for the Department stands at $249.6 billion. Of funds that actually go to the Air Force Department, that amount is overstated by over 20 percent. This is because of a lingering vestige of the Cold War known as 'passthrough.' Some $51.5 billion passes through the Department of the Air Force and flows directly to other defense agencies outside the Air Force's control. Removing that 'passthrough' leaves $211.0 billion which is the factual amount of the 2026 budget request for the Department, and is $6.5 billion, or three percent less than what President Biden requested for 2025. Within this sum, the Air Force receives $184.9 billion and the Space Force $26.1 billion, representing decreases of one percent and nine percent, respectively, compared to the previous year's budget request for these services before adjusting for inflation. Air and space superiority are crucial capabilities that both deter war and shorten the time it takes to bring wars to an end. That is evident in what Israel and the United States achieved against Iran and is, perhaps, even more clear in what Russia has failed to achieve in its war against Ukraine. Russia's inability to establish air superiority against Ukraine in the early days of its invasion effort—and Ukraine's inability to do likewise, due to its lack of weapons and restrictions to use those western weapons to greatest effect—demonstrate what happens without air and space superiority. Today, both sides are locked both into a grinding war of attrition. In a potential conflict with China spanning the Indo-Pacific region, range, tempo, and information dominance—all attributes provided by air and space power—will decide the fight. America cannot afford to show up with a hollow aerospace force. The solution is investment—sustained, robust, and focused on modernizing and equipping America's Air Force and Space Force. We need to buy back readiness, replace obsolete aircraft and spacecraft, scale and deploy uninhabited aerial vehicles where they can contribute most effectively, grow our space architecture, and accelerate new Air Force and Space Force capabilities. That means establishing budgets and plans with real increases, not sleight of hand or one-time cash infusions. Dramatically increasing investment in our Air Force and Space Force is a strategic necessity. In an era of rising authoritarianism and sharpening threats, the administration must put its money where its mouth is. Peace through strength cannot be a mere slogan. It requires consistent funding to reverse the decline of our Air Force and to build up the nascent capabilities of our Space Force. Opportunity to Restore Peace Through Strength That is why President Trump must treat the congressional plus-up in the 2026 Big Beautiful Bill not as a fleeting bonus, but as a down payment on a long-overdue course correction. Rather than a temporary surge, it should mark the beginning of a sustained campaign to rebuild the strength, scale, and technological superiority of the Department of the Air Force. The $38.6 billion in the 2026 supplemental funding should be used to establish a new floor for future Department of the Air Force defense budgets. Beginning in fiscal year 2027, President Trump should propose a base defense budget that absorbs this supplemental funding as a permanent, structural increase. That means locking in the gains made possible by the FY26 plus-up—accelerated modernization, expanded production lines, expanded force capacity, and increased readiness—and using them as the benchmark for further growth. Future budgets must build from this enhanced baseline to close the gap between America's strategic objectives and the tools required to achieve them. Doing so would signal a clear break from the era of hollow rhetoric and declining U.S. aerospace power. It would demonstrate to allies and adversaries alike that America is serious about restoring peace through strength. And it would finally put an end to the dangerous illusion that the world's greatest air and space power can compete and win in tomorrow's wars while spending less than it did the year before. President Trump has a historic opportunity to realign America's defense trajectory. Making the FY26 congressional plus-up a permanent fixture of future defense budgets is the first and most essential step.
Forbes
16-07-2025
- Forbes
President Trump Must Increase, Not Decrease America's Defense Budget
President Trump announces the F-47 Air Force fighter. (Photo by) In a world increasingly shaped by the hard edges of power, the most dangerous illusion is the belief that the United States can deter, compete, and win in future conflicts without major reinvestment in its military. Yet that is exactly the illusion perpetuated by President Trump's proposed fiscal 2026 defense budget. Despite the rhetoric of rebuilding our armed forces, President Trump's budget is smaller than that of his predecessor. Peace Through Strength or a Defense Budget Cut? In March 2024, then-President Biden's 2025 defense request totaled $849.8 billion—an increase of four percent over the previous year. That was not enough to restore readiness or recapitalize the Air Force's geriatric aircraft inventory, but it at least acknowledged the rising tide of global threats. Compare that to President Trump's 2026 defense request: $848.3 billion, a $1.5 billion reduction. Factor in three percent inflation, and that results in a $25.4 billion loss in buying power. This budget is a cut rather than a path to peace through strength. Much has been made of the additional $113 billion for defense contained in the Big Beautiful Bill Act, and while this cash injection undeniably helps accelerate some programs, much of it merely backfills long-term, unfunded requirements. The trouble is that by supplementing defense with a one-time plus-up, the measure does not solve the long-term failure to invest in Air Force and Space Force modernization. Only sustained annual increases in the base defense budget can address that. Victory in future war demands more than slogans. It requires commitment, clarity, and sufficient funding. The Department of the Air Force—comprising the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force—provides the two indispensable military forces upon which all U.S. joint force operations depend. Its ability to achieve and sustain air and space superiority underwrites the success of all other domains. No large-scale U.S. joint force operation can be conducted without some element of the Department of the Air Force. Yet since 1990—35 years—the Air Force has had to conduct continuous combat operations with declining resources. That underfunding of the Air Force for over three decades has eroded combat capacity and capability and driven mounting risk. In the 20 years after 9/11, funding for the Army and Navy was greater than the Air Force—to the tune of $1.3 trillion more for the Army and nearly $1 trillion dollars more for the Navy. The result is the U.S. Air Force is now the oldest, the smallest, and least ready in its 78-year history. The U.S. Air Force is in a Nose Dive Worse, the Department of the Air Force budget is on track to get even smaller over the next five years. In fiscal 2025, the budget calls for retiring 250 Air Force aircraft while buying only 91; the trend accelerates in fiscal 2026, with 340 aircraft retiring against only 76 new aircraft purchases. Today's Air Force has over 2,600 aircraft—about two-thirds of its total inventory—that first flew more than 50 years ago. Fighting capacity continues to shrink. The Air Force possesses less than half the numbers of fighters and bombers it had in 1991—the last time we fought a major regional conflict. The Space Force, meanwhile, is a malnourished youngster. Just over five years old and charged with protecting critical satellites in a contested domain, it lacks the material and human resources to mature into the warfighting service it must become. The recent Operation Midnight Hammer in which U.S. bombers struck three nuclear targets in Iran, prove that air and space superiority remain decisive. But it also raises a sobering question: Can we sustain those operations if a war were to drag on beyond a few weeks? The answer, based on current trends, is no. The Factual Amount of the 2026 Budget Request The Department of the Air Force's 2026 budget request is publicly listed as $301.1 billion, but this figure includes the congressional supplement from the Big Beautiful Bill labeled as "mandatory" that adds $38.6 billion, making the request appear larger. Excluding this supplement, the administration's actual budget request for the Department stands at $249.6 billion. Of funds that actually go to the Air Force Department, that amount is overstated by over 20 percent. This is because of a lingering vestige of the Cold War known as 'passthrough.' Some $51.5 billion passes through the Department of the Air Force and flows directly to other defense agencies outside the Air Force's control. Removing that 'passthrough' leaves $211.0 billion which is the factual amount of the 2026 budget request for the Department, and is $6.5 billion, or three percent less than what President Biden requested for 2025. Within this sum, the Air Force receives $184.9 billion and the Space Force $26.1 billion, representing decreases of one percent and nine percent, respectively, compared to the previous year's budget request for these services before adjusting for inflation. Air and space superiority are crucial capabilities that both deter war and shorten the time it takes to bring wars to an end. That is evident in what Israel and the United States achieved against Iran and is, perhaps, even more clear in what Russia has failed to achieve in its war against Ukraine. Russia's inability to establish air superiority against Ukraine in the early days of its invasion effort—and Ukraine's inability to do likewise, due to its lack of weapons and restrictions to use those western weapons to greatest effect—demonstrate what happens without air and space superiority. Today, both sides are locked both into a grinding war of attrition. In a potential conflict with China spanning the Indo-Pacific region, range, tempo, and information dominance—all attributes provided by air and space power—will decide the fight. America cannot afford to show up with a hollow aerospace force. The solution is investment—sustained, robust, and focused on modernizing and equipping America's Air Force and Space Force. We need to buy back readiness, replace obsolete aircraft and spacecraft, scale and deploy uninhabited aerial vehicles where they can contribute most effectively, grow our space architecture, and accelerate new Air Force and Space Force capabilities. That means establishing budgets and plans with real increases, not sleight of hand or one-time cash infusions. Dramatically increasing investment in our Air Force and Space Force is a strategic necessity. In an era of rising authoritarianism and sharpening threats, the administration must put its money where its mouth is. Peace through strength cannot be a mere slogan. It requires consistent funding to reverse the decline of our Air Force and to build up the nascent capabilities of our Space Force. Opportunity to Restore Peace Through Strength That is why President Trump must treat the congressional plus-up in the 2026 Big Beautiful Bill not as a fleeting bonus, but as a down payment on a long-overdue course correction. Rather than a temporary surge, it should mark the beginning of a sustained campaign to rebuild the strength, scale, and technological superiority of the Department of the Air Force. The $38.6 billion in the 2026 supplemental funding should be used to establish a new floor for future Department of the Air Force defense budgets. Beginning in fiscal year 2027, President Trump should propose a base defense budget that absorbs this supplemental funding as a permanent, structural increase. That means locking in the gains made possible by the FY26 plus-up—accelerated modernization, expanded production lines, expanded force capacity, and increased readiness—and using them as the benchmark for further growth. Future budgets must build from this enhanced baseline to close the gap between America's strategic objectives and the tools required to achieve them. Doing so would signal a clear break from the era of hollow rhetoric and declining U.S. aerospace power. It would demonstrate to allies and adversaries alike that America is serious about restoring peace through strength. And it would finally put an end to the dangerous illusion that the world's greatest air and space power can compete and win in tomorrow's wars while spending less than it did the year before. President Trump has a historic opportunity to realign America's defense trajectory. Making the FY26 congressional plus-up a permanent fixture of future defense budgets is the first and most essential step.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Yahoo
UK HMRC estimates US firms underpaid £8.8bn in taxes last year
The UK's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has reported that US companies may have underpaid taxes amounting to £8.8bn ($11.8bn) in the previous financial year, according to UHY Hacker Young, a national accountancy firm. This figure marks a 57% increase from the estimated £5.6bn underpayment recorded the year before. US corporations represent the largest share of tax underpayment among foreign entities, contributing to 46% of the total £19bn in tax underpaid by all international companies operating in the UK. In light of these findings, HMRC has intensified its scrutiny of major US firms, particularly those in the technology sector. Some analysts have suggested that these companies are minimising their tax obligations in the UK by reallocating profits to jurisdictions with lower tax rates, such as Dublin. UHY Hacker Young pointed out that a prevalent strategy used by these firms is known as 'transfer pricing'. This involves transactions between subsidiaries, where one entity compensates another for goods and services, including intellectual property rights, potentially leading to reduced taxable income in the UK. The US government has expressed concerns regarding what it perceives as unfair taxation practices imposed by other countries on American businesses. The UK's implementation of a 'diverted profit tax' and a digital services tax has previously been identified by the US as examples of such unfair measures. UHY Hacker Young partner and tax head Phil Kinzett-Evans said: 'The amount of tax owed that HMRC suspects that US companies owe is continuing to grow at a scale that HMRC knows it can't ignore. 'HMRC is under a lot of pressure help fill the shortfall in tax revenues by cracking down on large companies. However, that conflicts with the need to keep the US government onside but not to be seen as too aggressive towards US companies. 'HMRC needs to tread carefully as it faces the challenge of ensuring the UK keeps a good relationship current US administration whilst also investigating US companies for underpaying tax. The less tax collected from US companies, the more has to be paid by other taxpayers.' "UK HMRC estimates US firms underpaid £8.8bn in taxes last year" was originally created and published by International Accounting Bulletin, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
