This story has been updated to include a statement from the Air Force. As lawmakers negotiated an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, they added hundreds of millions of dollars for projects related to the B-21 bomber and Sentinel ICBM programs. The three-bill funding package signed into law on Wednesday night gives the Air Force $3.9 billion for military construction projects, some $204 million above the service’s 2026 budget request. And it includes more than $850 million for flexible spending beyond the continuing resolution for at least 11 projects related to the B-21 and Sentinel. The allocations for military construction show continued bipartisan support for the Air Force’s nuclear modernization efforts, which have seen massive cost overruns on the Sentinel effort and shutdown-stalled talks about accelerating B-21 […]