“Weapons Away”: 
Lt. Col. Jim Hecker dropped the first bomb from an operational F/A-22 Raptor, entering USAF record books, announced USAF officials on Oct. 21, three days after the fact. Hecker, commander of the 27th Fighter Squadron, Langley AFB, Va., dropped an inert 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition against a dummy target at the Utah Test and Training Range during Air Combat Command’s first deployment of its F/A-22 squadron. (DR, 10/17/05)
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
