The north runway at Ramstein AB, Germany, is undergoing reconstruction and work is ahead of schedule. The Air Force has undertaken a three-phase, $20 million refurbishment that will add 1,000 extra feet and allow heavier transports to take off when fully loaded, eliminating excess cargo flights. Ramstein had been primarily a fighter base, until the Air Force decided to close Rhein-Main AB, Germany, and shift the burden of airlift operations to its two other prime facilities in Germany—Ramstein and Spangdahlem. Current plans call for the work to be completed one week early – in late December rather than January 1, 2007.
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.
