The good folks at Kunsan AB, South Korea, actually got to spend some of the money they saved by being frugal with their precious dollars. According to the Wolf Pack Warrior, 8th Fighter Wing got more than $8 million in “fallout” money for Fiscal 2006. Actually, this is an annual occurrence—and marathon—around the Air Force, where money left over from buying items more cheaply than estimated goes into an end-of-year pot. The trick is to race to spend the fallout money before the midnight curfew rings on the current fiscal year. The 8th FW, like other USAF units, didn’t spend its fallout money on frills; instead it went for such items as aircraft parts and land mobile radios and some quality of life things, such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems for dorms.
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.