The Air Force is asking industry and academia to tender some suggestions for lightening the weight and reducing the footprint of its combat support resources to make them more rapidly deployable. Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Armament Center issued a sources-sought notice last week, hoping to elicit some ideas for the Fiscal 2010 budgeting cycle. It wants “information on systems, tactics, and techniques that require less intertheater airlift and fewer personnel to support, erect, and maintain operations.” And, it wants “viable” concepts that could mature within the near-term (2010-2015), mid-term (2016-2025), or far-term (2026-2035) for functional areas ranging from aeromedical evacuation to maintenance and munitions and public affairs. The push is on because “present combat support resources are aging and are quickly becoming technically obsolete.”
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.
