The Pentagon has returned control of 10 of the 21 major acquisition programs that it had removed from USAF authority last year. Oddly, it was the new Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, in his previous role as head of DOD acquisition, who revoked—temporarily—the Air Force’s milestone decision authority. The reason given at the time was leadership transition within the Air Force, whose Secretary, Undersecretary, and top acquisition official had resigned. Pentagon officials did not say why all 21 programs were not returned to USAF authority. Here is a list of the programs still under DOD purview.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…