Working under a Congressional mandate, Rand Corp. analyzed the Air Force’s planned multiyear procurement for the next 60 F-22A Raptors and found that it would save about $411 million. That is considerably more than the Air Force estimate of $225 million. In its just-released report, Rand’s low estimate was $274 million and its high end was $643 million. (See Data Points) The MYP plan created quite a stir last year, but Congress did pass it, albeit with a caveat that required the Secretary of Defense to provide an independent cost analysis conducted by another federally funded R&D center other than the Institute for Defense Analyses. A possible conflict of interest controversy last year tainted the IDA review of the F-22 MYP. Rand contends that it substantiated more than 70 percent of contractor-proposed savings and found additional savings to arrive at its “most realistic estimate.”
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3