The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday took up Michael Wynne’s nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force. Though Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat, thought Wynne’s involvement in the tanker controversy would be a non-issue (DR, 10/06/05), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) couldn’t pass it up. McCain, who led the attack on the Air Force over the propriety of a tanker-lease deal, also demanded assurances that Wynne had a plan to overcome cost overruns in several major USAF programs. Wynne assured him that he planned to balance technology, requirements, and schedules. He emphasized the need to give program managers more authority to say “no” to add-ons to control costs.
Air Force depots are not typically meant for quick repair jobs, but during Operation Epic Fury, the service moved some of its stateside heavy maintenance capability forward to fix battle-damaged aircraft closer to the fight.
