Air Force Reserve Command officials of the 934th Airlift Wing at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport/Air Reserve Station, Minn., gained an additional five years to use private property for practice air drops when they signed a new lease agreement in mid-November with the landowner, Burdette Stief, a World War II Army veteran. The Reserve wing has leased the land for the past 25 years, while before that a joint use with the Air National Guard dated to the 1960s. Yes, Stief gets paid—now $33,600 per year—but Reserve officials say he could have chosen to develop the property.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
