The Pentagon expects to save about $20 billion through efficiency measures in Fiscal 2012—a significant step toward the overall goal of $150 billion through 2016, said Pentagon spokesman George Little. “The Secretary is personally involved in the efficiencies effort. This is consistent with his focus on more discipline in business operations, to include audit readiness and improved internal controls,” said Little during a June 19 press briefing. Each of the services is doing its fair sharing of scrimping, but the closure of US Joint Forces Command netted an estimated $292 million in savings in Fiscal 2012, he said. The Air Force is expected to save roughly $45 million over the fiscal year by utilizing commercial flight-planning software to make real-time flight adjustments, he said. “Earlier this year, [Defense Secretary Leon Panetta] announced an additional $60 billion in efficiencies between Fiscal 2013 and Fiscal 2017,” said Little. “The Department is currently developing implementation plans to reach those goals, and we are confident they can be realized.” (AFPS report by Karen Parrish)
It’s hard to know why the F-35 Block 4 upgrade's cost—now $16.5 billion and rising—is going up because it is mixed with the rest of the program, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.