Airmen last week handed over the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., to a fully civilian staff as the service transfers military pay functions back to the base level. “When the center opened in 2007, it was a big deal,” said AFFSC Director Gary Gualano in a Sept. 27 Ellsworth release. The center handled all Air Force pay and any travel vouchers outside of the Defense Department’s travel system, processing more than $500,000 in vouchers alone last year, states the release. As an efficiency—and cost-cutting—measure, the Air Force decided to shift manpower back to the installation level, providing pay services on base, while the civilian-run center would continue to process travel pay requests. Before the transition, AFFSC boasted a staff of more than 550 uniformed and civilian staff. The center bid farewell to the last of its 300 Active Duty airmen during a Sept. 19 ceremony. (Ellsworth report by Amn. Ashley J. Woolridge) (See also 2011 Washington, D.C., release outlining the AFFSC transition.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.