As Air Force Materiel Command consolidates its acquisition, sustainment, testing, and technology functions from 12 locations to five, it will reduce 1,051 acquisition positions at the management level, said AFMC chief Gen. Donald Hoffman Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. The consolidation, announced last November, doesn’t run afoul of any potential new BRAC round, said Hoffman. “We’ve postured ourselves for efficiency, whether there’s a BRAC or not,” he asserted. There’s “no legislation that says, ‘don’t do it,'” but there is the 2011 Budget Control Act that demands that the Air Force “spend less money,” he said. BRAC 2005 “is history,” said Hoffman, and doesn’t “codify the future.”
With upgrades, F-16s can serve as a numbers-builder in the combat air forces until the 2040s, and it’s not necessary to launch its successor yet, program officials said at an industry conference. “We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” meaning into the 2040s, Col. Tim…