In seeking efficiencies to reduce overhead, the Air Force is looking both short- and long-term, but focusing on the cuts at hand, according to Lt. Gen. Chris Miller, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and programs. “The closer the target, the better you see it,” Miller told the Daily Report Thursday following a speech in Arlington, Va. “We have to be very concrete” about meeting immediate savings targets, he said, which are $2 billion in Fiscal 2012. Over five years through Fiscal 2016, the targeted savings for the Air Force are $28.3 billion, but “you’ve got time to adjust and figure out exactly how you get there,” he continued. Miller said the Air Force is “making good progress” at finding the near-term savings, despite years of “lean” process improvements and Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, initiatives that have long since claimed all the low-hanging savings fruit.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.