President Donald Trump unveils new F-47 jet; axes political foes’ security clearance
Donald Trump said the US will produce the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet — whose name includes an homage to him. He’s also revoked security clearances for key political foes.
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US President Donald Trump announced the US will begin producing the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet — whose name includes an homage to the commander in chief.
The new F-47 will succeed the F-35, long heralded for its superior stealth capabilities. In its Navy variant, the F-35 was the first US fighter jet to be able to land vertically like a helicopter, allowing it to touch down on ships with limited runway room.
Trump joked that he liked the name of the new jet, which shares the same number as Trump’s second administration. He denied naming it after himself, insisting that “the generals picked a title, and it’s a beautiful number.”
Details about the new asset were limited to protect against foreign adversaries gleaning intelligence about it. Trump mentioned the F-47 would be the first aircraft to be able to “fly with drones,” though it was unclear what he meant.
“It flies with many, many drones, as many as you want. And it’s a technology that’s new, but it doesn’t fly by itself. It flies (with a pilot) but with many drones, as many as we want,” the president said. “And that’s something that no other plane can do.”
Trump added that he could not say how many F-47s were being ordered from Washington state-based manufacturer Boeing or how much they will cost “because it would give it would give way to some of the technology and some of the size of the plane, it’s a good-sized plane.”
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TRUMP REVOKES SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR POLITICAL FOES
Mr Trump made good on a threat to revoke the security clearances of his predecessor Joe Biden and several senior former White House and national security officials.
The list of names stripped of their authorisation to see state secrets included Biden, his family members, and former vice-president and Trump presidential rival Kamala Harris.
Former secretary of state and defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was on the list, along with Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jacob Sullivan.
In a memorandum to agency heads and distributed by the White House communications office, Mr Trump said the named officials should no longer be allowed access to classified material.
“I hereby direct every executive department and agency head ... to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals,” Mr Trump said.
“I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.” Former US presidents and national security officials traditionally retain a security clearance as a courtesy, and some find it useful in seeking employment with private contractors.
JOE ROGAN WANTS CANADA AND US TO ‘GET ALONG’
Podcaster Joe Rogan is against Canada becoming the 51st member of the United States — but he’s not ruling out bringing Greenland into the fold.
“I just want America and Canada to get along. I think it’s ridiculous,” “The Joe Rogan Experience” host told comedian Mark Kosta on his March 14 episode of the ongoing trade war between the neighboring countries.
President Trump — whom Rogan, 57, has staunchly supported and had on as a guest before the 2024 election — has frequently floated the idea of adding Canada as the 51st state, even before hitting the country with 25 per cent tariffs.
“I don’t really think they should be our 51st state. There. I said it,” Rogan confessed.
US CUTS FUNDING TO AUSTRALIAN UNIS
The White House has cut funding to seven Australian universities after they were sent surveys to see if joint research projects aligned with Donald Trump's agenda.
Academics were asked whether they have ties to communist or socialist parties, receive funding from China and it only recognises male and female sexes.
US funding for $600 million worth of research efforts are now in jeopardy.
Researchers are calling on the Albanese government to step in and prevent any further grant cuts.
The Australian Education Department says the total amount of funding cut by the US is unclear
TRUMP VOWS TO PAY ASTRONAUTS, EVEN OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET
President Trump promised to personally cover overtime pay for astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore after they were stranded in space for 286 days — spanning both the 47th president and former President Joe Biden’s terms.
“If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” Mr Trump, 78, told Fox News’ Peter Doocy when asked about the astronauts who were trapped at the International Space Station since June 2024.
Mr Doocy pointed out that NASA had agreed to cover just A$8 per day in incidentals for the cosmic crew, amounting to roughly A$2,279 in possible back pay.
“Nobody ever mentioned this to me,” the president responded, apparently surprised.
“Is that all? That’s not a lot, for what they had to go through.”
SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS PRESSURE TRUMP OVER AUSSIE LAWS
Tech giants Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon and Elon Musk’s X are pressuring the Trump administration to target “coercive and discriminatory” Australian media laws.
Members of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which is an international advocacy organisation based in Washington, DC for the tech industry were asked for comments by The Office of the US Trade Representative regarding Australia’s media regulations.
In comments written to the USTR trade chief on 11 March, the trade policy manager of the CCIA Amir Nasr targeted Australia’s News Media Bargaining Incentive as one of the “key examples” of discriminatory taxation of digital products and services, The Guardian reports.
The incentive involves taxing digital platforms, which can be offset if they pay news publishers for content.
Mr Nasr wrote: “Australia’s extraction and redistribution of revenue from U.S. digital suppliers to local news businesses is reported to have cost US firms $US140 million ($A222 million) annually”.
The note defines Australia’s news media bargaining incentive as a “coercive and discriminatory tax that requires US technology companies to subsidise Australian media companies.”
Mr Nasr said thee are currently two companies forking out $A250 million per year through “deals that were coerced through the threat of this law.”
He predicted that the cost will increase once the Australian government imposes the new rate of the incentive tax.
The note also draws attention to Australia’s proposed requirements for US online video providers to fund Australian content.
“Companies could be required to pay anywhere between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of their local expenditure on Au
stralian content, with qualifications that will likely make it very difficult for US companies to qualify.
“Australia’s online video streaming market is estimated to generate up to $US2.3 billion ($A3.6bn) of annual revenue, with the majority of it earned from US companies. If the Australian government pursues the 20 per cent expenditure mandate it has floated in the past year, that would put this revenue at risk,” Mr Nasr wrote.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO ‘ELIMINATE’ EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
The president signed an order aimed at shutting down the Department of Education, a decades-old goal of the American right, which wants individual states to run schools free from the influence of federal government.
Surrounded by schoolchildren sitting at desks set up in the East Room of the White House, Donald Trump smiled as held up the order after signing it.
Mr Trump said the order would “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”
“We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good,” he said.
“We’re going to return education back to the states where it belongs.”
The Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress – but Mr Trump’s order will likely have the power to starve it of funds and staff.
The move is one of the most drastic steps yet in the brutal overhaul of the government that Trump is carrying out with the help of tech tycoon Elon Musk and his Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, called it a “tyrannical power grab” and “one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken.”
US CAPTIVE RELEASED BY TALIBAN AFTER HIGH LEVEL TALKS
An American man held hostage by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers since December 2022 was on his way back to the US on Thursday, local time, after Trump administration negotiators secured his freedom.
The Taliban kidnapped George Glezmann, 65, a US citizen, while he was on a trip to Afghanistan — but he has just been released following negotiations brokered by Trump envoy Adam Boehler and Qatari officials.
Mr Boehler met with Afghanistan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to finalise Mr Glezmann’s release.
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— سی٠العÙمر صابري (@Omer123Saif123) March 20, 2025
The departure of Mr Glezmann comes following weeks of talks among the three parties.
Two other American citizens — Ryan Corbett and William McKenty — were also released by the Taliban back to the US in January.
MUSK’S DAUGHTER SLAMS ‘CARTOONISHLY EVIL’ DAD
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s eldest child, has spoken out publicly against her father, saying that he “definitely [did] a Nazi salute” at two rallies leading up to the election of Donald Trump and that he is part of a White House that’s “cartoonishly evil”.
– with AFP
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Originally published as President Donald Trump unveils new F-47 jet; axes political foes’ security clearance
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