Say goodbye to hard-copy versions of Airman Magazine and, for that matter, the other services’ flagship magazines: All Hands, Marines, and Soldiers. These publications will appear only in online format by Fiscal 2012 based on the latest round of decisions tied to Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ efficiency initiative that aims to shed Pentagon duplication, overhead, and excess. “An online-only version would increase the magazines’ reach in the target audience (18-to-24-year-old, digitally oriented demographic), improve the immediacy of content, and provide the capability to update content more frequently,” reads Gates’ recent memorandum outlining these “track four” efficiency initiative decisions. Publication of “a limited number of hard copies” of the annual service almanacs for specific target audiences will still occur, states the memo. These changes will reap an estimated $4 million in savings in Fiscal 2012. (Gates memorandum)
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
