The aerospace industry takes very seriously the Pentagon’s push to cut costs and reduce overhead, said Aerospace Industries Association chief Marion Blakey. Half-jokingly calling it “Carter’s Crusade” after Pentagon acquisition chief Ash Carter, Blakey said industry is scrubbing its costs as never before. “We truly believe reducing costs is a DOD-industry partnership,” she said last week at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. Contractors, she continued, know “the entire aerospace industry depends on it.” Toward that end, she suggested continuing reductions in required paperwork, expanded use of performance-based logistics, and more multi-year procurement contracts as three obvious areas where big money can be saved. She noted that C-17 operating costs have come down by 28 percent using PBL, and that the recent F/A-18E/F multiyear deal produced $600 million in savings.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
