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In More Depth Archive
Modernization & Recapitalization
The Air Force is taking the reins of developing the MOP bunker-buster bomb. Pentagon officials are already acting as if the F-35 program has breached Nunn-McCurdy. Barring further disruption, KC-X tankers should be operating around 2017. The Air Force is re-examining when its first F-35 combat unit will be ready. The reserve is not meant to mobilize as quickly as the active force, but that doesn't mean it should get shorted when it comes to new weapons. Schwartz says the recent firing of the F-35 program manager is just the start. Ongoing wars are driving USAF's pursuit of robust air mobility, ISR, C2, and partnership-building capacity. The newly completed MCRS would halt C-17 construction and retire least capable C-5s. With no new programs, Donley expects LRS work to sustain engineering expertise but says supplier base is another matter. USAF seeks $140.4 billion in Fiscal 2011, including $20.8 billion for the wars. DOD seeks record $708 billion in Fiscal 2011. Gates: Problems in F-35 program require accountability. STRATCOM's boss says the Minuteman III fleet can last out to 2030. The first optimized CTOL enters test program; unique F-35 production method kicks in. House members ask White House to factor Airbus’ “illegal” subsidies in the KC-X tanker competition. |
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Verbatim
Preemptive Action
"Since the [Defense] Department's acceptance of the independent estimates last fall, we've been, in just about every respect, acting as if the program were in a Nunn-McCurdy breach. ... We've been taking all of the mitigating and corrective action that we would take as if there were a Nunn-McCurdy breach."
—Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, discussing with reporters the restructure of the F-35 strike fighter program announced in February 2010 and the probability that the program will soon exceed Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds that would necessitate, per US law, a program review and corrective steps, Washington, D.C., March 2, 2010. |
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Verbatim
Message for Grandma
"She has working for her as a citizen in the United States an Air Force Reserve that has some very talented, capable, patriotic, and willing individuals doing the business to keep this nation free. Just like her generation—the 'Greatest Generation'—was, I am very proud of the folks that we have got. If not the second greatest, then they are an extension of the greatest generation and they are ready, willing, and able to do the things that she would want them to do to make sure we keep our freedoms."
—Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, responding to a reporter's question on what the reporter should tell his 85-year-old grandmother to convey to her the importance of Air Force Reservists to the nation's security, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 19, 2010.
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