The Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Ken Krieg, says he’ll “withhold judgment” until he’s had a chance to read the Government Accountability Office criticism that the Air Force didn’t fill all the squares in citing a preference for a hybrid tanker-cargo hauler in its KC-X competition. However, he left no doubt during a press conference March 15 that he believes the bean counters missed the big picture. Krieg noted that the Mobility Capability Study offered a “pretty extensive look” at mobility, concluding that “if the price was right for doors and floors,” that the agility of a tanker also being able to haul people and cargo in a sustaining operation “made a lot of sense inherently and analytically.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.