It looks like programs are going to be the main big bill-payer as the Air Force confronts a further $12 billion of belt-tightening over the next six fiscal years. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told defense reporters in Washington Tuesday morning that the service has done all that can be done in terms of reducing personnel and that the 2005 BRAC round will actually cost the Air Force rather than save it any money. “There’s a war on,” so readiness accounts can’t be raided, Wynne said. That leaves only programs as a cash cow.
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.
