One of the Air Force’s top three priorities is to recapitalize aging aircraft and other weapon systems, and it’s that priority “that is really driving change at the air logistics center,” Robert Conner, director of Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, told attendees at the Tinker Management Association recently. Conner noted that USAF is looking for ways to reduce the cost of operations to free money to recapitalize, saying that the logistics community has “set goals for improving aircraft availability by 20 percent and reducing costs by 10 percent by Fiscal Year 2011.” He went on, “At our ALC, if we’re able to achieve that goal—and we’re on our way to doing that—that’s the equivalent of 79 more aircraft returned to the warfighter.”
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…