The Department of Defense and the US Office of Personnel Management unveiled the final regulations for the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS), putting them into the Federal Register. At a Pentagon news conference on Oct. 26, Acting Undersecretary of Defense Gordon England said that NSPS will provide a modern, flexible system that will better support its workers. The labor relations part of the program will go into effect after a mandatory 30-day review by Congress. Public employee unions have criticized the Pentagon for not giving them adequate information on the program, noting changes to performance evaluation and firing regulations.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.