Lt. Gen. C.D. Moore, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has outlined six focus areas for 2014 intended to help the center deliver cost-effective capabilities while supporting the Air Force mission. First, as defense spending declines, the organization is pushing aggressive “should-cost” analysis, to better anticipate life cycle costs for weapons systems, stated a Feb. 18 commentary penned by Moore. The center also has established a product support enterprise governance process to help put new support strategies in place. Cyber security is another focus. Specifically, improving the way AFLCMC supports and manages programs in the cyber arena. The center also will focus on human resource management, across its Active Duty, civilian, Guard, and Reserve workforce. Fifth, the center will focus on process standardization and “speed with discipline,” as it aims to responsibly reduce cycle times. Finally, the center will focus on building partnership across agencies, with academia, government, and other entities, to find new arrangements to meet mission requirements, wrote Moore. “It’s no secret that the nation is facing growing budgetary pressures, and we must subsequently adjust how we manage our resources and processes,” wrote Moore.
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.