The Air Force is quite pleased with the work Lockheed Martin has been doing at the service’s Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., so much so it has just awarded the company another $26 million to extend the existing contract through 2009. Lockheed provides technical integration and network management, as well as development of new software, for the DMOC, which is primarily a training simulation activity. However, Col. Leonard Moskal, commander of the 505th Distributed Warfare Group at Kirtland, says DMOC does more than provide realistic network warfare training; it enables the service “to test and evaluate tactics, weapons, or technology.”
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
