?There’s no cost-cutting going on with the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program yet, because the program isn’t yet to the stage of “negotiations,” Air Force acquisition chief Darlene Costello told reporters at AWS17. Costello said the service has been working for “over a year” to make sure, in writing the requirements, that “we’re not doing more than we have to.” Once the requirements stage concludes, and the requirements are “stable,” then, and only then, will USAF get into the business of trying to negotiate the lowest prices it can, Costello said. Asked if the requirement for two airplanes might be reduced to one, Costello said, “I don’t think so,” citing the service’s probable operational need. She declined to comment on President Trump’s statements he has gotten the price down on the PAR, except to say when the time comes to negotiate, USAF will do “everything we can to make it an affordable platform.”
Update: This entry was updated on March 6, 2017, with the correct name of the service’s acquisition chief.