Building on recent comments by senior Air Force generals, Secretary Michael Donley said last week the Air Force has all but decided to execute a service life extension for some of its F-16 fighters. “We are committing resources in that direction in [the forthcoming future years defense plan],” he told attendees at his Air Force Association-sponsored Air Force Breakfast Series presentation in Arlington, Va. He added, “More to follow on that, but I think that question is more of a ‘How much?’ and ‘When?’ and ‘What kind?’ rather than if.” Driving the F-16 SLEP is the Defense Department’s decision to extend the F-35 strike fighter’s development into 2016 and the likely delay resulting from that in when the Air Force’s first combat-ready F-35A unit will be available. (For more from Donley’s speech, see Birthing the Bomber and Revamping Space Acquisition)
Lt. Gen. Stephen L. Davis, the Department of the Air Force’s top internal watchdog, has been nominated to lead Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.