Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, USAF budget director, said that the Air Force cut back on readiness funding last year “to jumpstart our modernization.” However, he asserted the service “can’t do that for two years” in a row, so it has increased most of its readiness accounts, up an aggregate $2.9 billion, from $27.4 billion in Fiscal 2007 to $30.6 billion in 2008. That means the readiness share of the USAF topline will rise from 25 percent to 27 percent. Even so, USAF is cutting its flying hours program by 10 percent, hoping that advanced simulation can cover the other 10 percent without any significant effect on pilot proficiency. Faykes also pointed out that the cost for readiness items has grown more than the rate of inflation. From 2007 to 2008, USAF predicts the cost of spare parts will rise six percent; utilities, 16 percent; fuel, nine percent, and contractor maintenance, five percent. The general rate of inflation was around two percent in the rest of the economy.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.