Helping allies with an insurgency problem will get more attention through a beefed-up schoolhouse, Air Force Irregular Warfare requirements director Robert Day told the Daily Report Tuesday. Air Education and Training Command now teaches “building partner capacity”—teaching friendly nations how to set up, organize, and equip an air force—at Ft. Dix, N.J., and turns out about 700 graduates a year. But AETC is looking for a permanent home for the school with the aim of turning out 1,500 graduates a year. The new school will also be able to “expand and contract” depending on the demand for these skills, Day said. Besides the bread and butter of man, train, and equip, the school will involve language and cultural training as well. AETC is looking at USAF bases to house the training center.
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.
