Air Force Materiel Command’s latest restructuring plan (see above), announced Tuesday, would reduce the number of its centers from 12 to five, as officials strive to cut overhead costs and eliminate redundancy. The restructure will eliminate 1,051 civilian positions and will allow the command to reduce another 1,088 civilian positions as installation support functions begin to streamline, according to the release. This is expected to save the Air Force about $109 million annually. “We’ll approach our business in a more integrated fashion rather than thinking separately about research, test, acquisition, or sustainment in a center-by-center, base-by-base mindset,” said Gen. Donald Hoffman, AFMC commander. “The restructure will drive us to more standardized processes.”
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
