Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, USAF’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, says that the estimated cost to get cut some 40,000 full-time positions—shedding military and civilian personnel—could amount to about $500 million. However, he told attendees Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that the savings potential is huge. For every 10,000 airmen cut, USAF will save a billion dollars, explained Faykes. He cautioned, though, that the Air Force would not know a concrete figure until the drawdown is complete, in 2009.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…