It’s not yet a wholesale exodus, but another Air Force top civilian official has walked and, according to the Associated Press, has blamed recent leadership changes for his exit. William Anderson, the assistant secretary for installations, environment, and logistics and the service’s point man on its push to embrace alternative fuels for aircraft, tendered his resignation to Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley with an effective date of Aug. 15, according to a July 28 announcement from the Air Force. Anderson has served in his current post since 2005. In the terse statement, Donley praised Anderson, saying he “is enormously talented, very experienced, and has superb strategic vision.” Former Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said after leaving office that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others in DOD felt the Air Force was expending too much effort on its initiative to run aircraft on synthetic fuel.
Sustainment of the F-35 is rapidly becoming the most profitable part of the program, as growing numbers of jets, bases and depots drive a greater demand for parts and services, top Lockheed Martin officials said in an April 20 corporate earnings call. The comments come against a backdrop of criticism…