Air Mo
bility Command expected to deliver the 10,000th mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle to Southwest Asia yesterday. “Our Airmen are directly helping to keep our troops on the ground safer,” said Gen. Arthur Lichte, AMC commander. “I’m extremely proud of them and their efforts to speed the delivery of this lifesaving equipment to our forces.” MRAPs were first introduced in that combat theater in 2007; since then, AMC airmen have worked around the clock to transfer them there, using C-5s, C-17s, and contracted Russian AN-124s. The Air Force has carried nearly 3,000 of them, with the remainder going over on Navy ships. Charleston AFB, S.C., is the sole USAF base from which the vehicles are airlifted to theater. (Scott report by 1st Lt. Justin Brockhoff)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
