THE FIGHT FOR FARAH: A Taliban attack this week against the capital of Afghanistan’s western Farah Province can be read a couple of ways. It could be seen as a sign of the Taliban’s continued power, demonstrating that even after more than 16 years of war, they can strike at will even at a city ringed with security checkpoints, inflicting casualties and terrorizing the locals.

HAPPENING TODAY — AIR FORCE TESTIMONY: At 10 a.m. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the chief of staff, sit down in front of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee to testify on the 2019 budget.

A SECOND LOOK: Meanwhile, Military Times, which has been doggedly pursuing the factors contributing to recent deadly aviation accidents, reports the Air Force is taking another look at its data for or anything out of the ordinary. “We don’t consider it a crisis but we have elevated interest in making sure that we aren’t missing anything and that we really do empower the airmen to make sure that safety is always first,” Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski told reporters this week.

DELIVERED: The first heavy-lift CH-53K King Stallion cargo helicopter arrived Wednesday at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. “I am very proud of the work accomplished to deliver the most powerful helicopter ever designed into the hands of our Marines,” Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation, said in a statement. The helicopter, which is built by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky, will undergo an assessment by the service before the CH-53K begins replacing aging CH-53E Super Stallions. The second one will be delivered next year, and the Corps will eventually receive 200 helicopters. The K version is a “new-build replacement” and can lift three times the load of the E. See video of the arrival here.

V-280 MILESTONE: In other rotor-related news, Bell’s V-280 Valor flew in cruise mode for the first time, the company said. Here’s a video of the V-280 in action. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the V-280 is a potential replacement for the V-22.

NO B-52 PULLBACK: South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency claimed Wednesday that U.S. B-52 bombers had been pulled from the ongoing Max Thunder joint military exercise after North Korea threatened to back out of a summit with President Trump. Not so, says the Pentagon. “The scope of Max Thunder has not changed,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Logan said. The bombers were never slated to participate in the annual spring exercise on the peninsula, he said.

FORGET THE LIBYA MODEL: The White House on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that Trump is using Libyan disarmament as a model for his negotiations with North Korea, a day after North Korea threatened to cancel his upcoming summit with the U.S. leader.

National security adviser John Bolton first made the comparison to Libya during a television appearance last month, telling Fox News Trump officials “have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004” as they approach talks with the Kim regime.

North Korean officials cited Bolton’s comments in a statement issued by state-run media earlier Wednesday. But White House press secretary Sarah Sanders downplayed Bolton’s comparison. “I know that that comment was made. There’s not a cookie-cutter model on how this would work,” Sanders said, adding that she wasn’t “aware that [Libya] is a model that we’re using.”

FULLY EXPECTED: Speaking to reporters informally on the White House lawn, Sanders insisted the administration was not taken by surprise by North Korea’s threat to cancel the summit. “Look this is something that we fully expected,” Sanders said. “The president is very… ready for very tough negotiations. And if they want to meet, we’ll be ready and if they don’t that’s OK, too.” Until then, she said, “We’ll continue with the campaign of maximum pressure.”

Sanders’ comments were pretty much all the White House had to say on the matter yesterday, although Trump was asked about it while meeting with the leader of Uzbekistan. “We haven’t been notified at all. We haven’t seen anything. We haven’t heard anything. We will see what happens,” Trump told reporters, adding that the goal is still denuclearization of the regime.

HOW GRAHAM FRAMES THE OPTIONS: Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has never shied away from threatening all-out war in Korea, outlined Kim Jong Un’s options in stark terms yesterday in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.

Graham’s Option A: “We end the Korean War, which has never ended. We sign a peace treaty with North Korea and South Korea, China and United States. We recognize North Korea as a sovereign country. We have no desire to invade North Korea. We’re not trying to unify South Korea and North Korea. We just want North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons program which has threatened us and the world. For that, they’ll get a guarantee of security and hopefully a better economy because the sanctions will be relieved.”

Graham’s Option B: “Here’s the other choice: keep threatening America, keep building nuclear weapons and ICBMs, get in a war with Donald Trump and lose it. Those are your two choices.”

“Here’s what’s crazy. They keep building ICBMs that can deliver a nuclear weapon to America and believe that Donald Trump won’t do anything about it,” Graham said. “That’d probably work with Obama, but I’m here to tell North Korea that our president has drawn a red line. If you keep threatening the American homeland with a nuclear weapon, we’re going to destroy your regime, it’s that simple.”

TWEETING THE TALIBAN: A Twitter user who posts messages on behalf of the Taliban decided to challenge Task & Purpose reporter Jeff Schogol yesterday over the video showing militants being killed near Farah this week. After the user accused Schogol of posting old video, the veteran Pentagon reporter gave the perfect response: “Well, have your guys do a roll call. If 28 Taliban fighters don’t answer when their name is called, you know the video is from overnight. Problem solved.”

TRIBUTES TO McCAIN: At Tuesday night’s Freedom Award Dinner of the International Republican Institute, honored guests were Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, but Sen. John McCain battling cancer at home in Arizona was the man of the hour. “I would just say, too, that tonight, there is a man standing here right beside me — you and I can see him in our mind’s eye — and it’s Sen. John McCain,” Mattis said in his remarks. “I would just tell you he’s a giant, in my mind, of American public life. Nothing can diminish him. He steadfastly represents the best of our country.

“Everything I love about America is resident in this man, who denied cynicism and victimhood to be a role model for so many of us,” Mattis said, punctuating his speech with a quote from McCain himself: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms: to choose one’s own attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

THE RUNDOWN

Military Times: Broad new war authorization roils US lawmakers

Wall Street Journal: North Korean Remarks Don’t Deter U.S.

Military Times: This Is The Military Exercise That May Throw A Wrench In Trump’s Historic Summit

CNN: Pentagon video reveals new details of deadly Niger ambush

Defense News: The Pentagon’s CMO has a plan to get more money for warfighters

USNI News: CNO: ‘Dynamic Force Employment’ Could Allow More High-End Training For Strike Groups

Breaking Defense: Host of Israeli Weapons Look Likely for US Sales: Iron Dome To Iron Fist

Newsweek: China Says War Drills Show There Is ‘No Way Out’ For Taiwan

Roll Call: FBI Director Raises Concerns about Chinese Tech Giant Trump Wants to Help

USNI News: Former USS Fitzgerald CO Benson Vows to Take Collision Case to Trial

Reuters: Putin Says Russian Frigates In Mediterranean On Standby Over Syria Threat

Defense One: Spies Are Going After US Supply Chains, Intel Agencies Say

New York Times: In Rebuke of Trump, Tillerson Says Lies Are a Threat to Democracy

DoD News: New NATO Headquarters Hosts Military Committee Meeting