Air Combat Command chief Gen. Ronald Keys says that new equipment can also create manpower savings. For example, each new F-22 Raptor the command receives probably will replace three F-15 Eagles, creating personnel savings. Further, Keys said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that the F-22 would be less maintenance intensive, even on a one-for-one basis. Similarly, he expects the new and unmanned MQ-4 Global Hawk to require fewer personnel to support and operate it than does the U-2 spyplane it eventually will replace. ACC needs these efficiencies. Keys noted that “I’m going to lose about 12,600 people,” in the command, “that’s a lot of people”—10 percent of the command.
In written testimony to the Senate, the nominee to oversee the Air Force’s installations and energy enterprise endorsed the continued privatization of military housing and called for the department to think more during the acquisition process about how it will power new weapons systems when the logistics supply chain is…
