In today’s austere funding environment, the Air Force is trying to get savings out of a lot of corners. Air Force Materiel Command officials say the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center team at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., reclaimed in Fiscal 2004 and 2005 an estimated 42,000 aircraft parts—saving the federal government approximately $1.257 billion in the process.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.