SrA. James A. Hansen, 25, of Athens, Mich., died Wednesday of wounds suffered during a controlled detonation at JB Balad, Iraq, the Defense Department has announced. Hansen was assigned to the 46th Operations Support Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla. He was one of the roughly 6,000 airmen still in Iraq supporting Operation New Dawn, the advise-and-assist mission that supplanted Operation Iraqi Freedom on Sept. 1. (DOD release)
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
