The US Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. and a European partner a $35bn US (€45.7bn) contract to build airborne refuelling planes, delivering a major blow to rival Boeing.

The US and Britain remain deadlocked over sharing stealth technology, more than a week after a top British official threatened to pull out of the multinational, £143bn (€210bn) Joint Strike Fighter project.

American soldiers are firing so much ammunition that the military’s largest supplier of bullets can’t keep up.

The US may have to call up large number of additional National Guard and Reserve troops for duty in Iraq, a senior general said today.