Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, speaking at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in D.C. on Dec. 4, said the service has found new age-related issues with the oldest of the C-5 fleet, the A models, that make modernization questionable, reports Andrea Shalal-Esa with Reuters. Wynne said, “There comes a time when age does catch up with us.” Currently the whole C-5 modernization effort is under review by DOD, following USAF’s declaration of a Nunn-McCurdy breach. A “senior defense official” told Reuters that the review might extend into the New Year, given the complexity of the issue. A Boeing official earlier this week said he believes Congress will permit the Air Force to buy additional new C-17s in the 2008 defense war on terror supplemental.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
