DoD Takes Over USAF’s Top 21 Weapons Programs

In the wake of recent Air Force personnel losses due to procurement scandals and retirements, the U.S. Defense Department has taken over temporary responsibility for running the USAF’s top 21 weapons-buying programs totaling about $180 billion. This move will undoubtedly have ramifications for a number of major contractors ad weapon systems. It will also collapse the approvals process from a two-stage progress by the USAF and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) into a one-stage process of OSD approval with USAF inputs.

Air Force Secretary James Roche and Marvin Sambur, the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, left their jobs in January after Darleen Druyun, an Air Force weapons buyer illegally recruited by Boeing, said she had illegally steered billions of dollars worth of business to Boeing, the Pentagon’s No. 2 supplier. In addition Peter Teets retired last week. The former Lockheed Martin COO had become acting Air Force secretary in January 2005.

Michael Wynne, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, was careful to note that “this action is not a punitive one.” He also said he had no specific date in mind for returning decision-making power to the Air Force, noting that his staff would work closely with acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez. Reuters: Pentagon Clips Winds of U.S. Air Force Buyers