Now that the Fiscal 2009 defense spending request is in to Congress, the Air Force is gearing up to build its Fiscal 2010 program objective memorandum. It will be a truly significant document, a senior USAF official said last week, because it will be the first opportunity to marry USAF’s newly articulated strategy with the funding programming for the Required Force, the 86 modern combat wings deemed necessary to defend the nation and prevail in future conflict. “We have articulated what the Air Force needs for the required force and how much it will cost,” Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, said in a USAF release on Feb. 8. “Now, we need to build our Fiscal 2010 program objective memorandum based upon tomorrow’s challenges.” Toward that end, Moseley hosted a senior-level meeting to discuss the issue on Feb. 3, the eve of the Fiscal 2009 budget rollout, at Bolling AFB, D.C., according to the release. “We must have a collective understanding of our current and future needs as the Air Force builds the Fiscal 2010 budget,” he said. “The focus of effort should be recapitalization, the Air Force priorities, my initiatives and reaching the 330,000 end strength.” Gen. Duncan McNabb, Vice Chief of Staff, added: “Now it is our task to connect the strategy to the required force.”
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.