CNAS commentary on DoD FY14 Budget →

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CNAS has posted a critique of the President's 2014 Defense Budget:​

The U.S. defense establishment today faces severe credibility challenges. Internationally, American defense budget cuts have shaken confidence in the U.S. military’s ability to achieve the nation’s security goals. The dysfunctional manner in which the U.S. government imposed the cuts has sapped faith in the ability of the American political system to provide steady, long-term support for U.S. security objectives. Domestically, the Department of Defense (DOD) has failed to accomplish its top political goal, averting sequestration, and has struggled to mobilize political support for its preferred strategy, the Defense Strategic Guidance. It is now being led by a defense secretary who suffered through a contentious nomination process and was confirmed by the smallest vote margin in the history of the job.

All of the think tanks are uniting in their displeasure with DoD's handling of its resource allocation under sequestration.

Fighter Pilot Human Capital →

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Today, ACC announced that they will reduce flying hours by approximately 45,000 between now and Oct 1st.

In the announcement,​ ACC states:

Although each weapon system is unique, on average aircrews lose currency to fly combat missions within 90 to 120 days of not flying. It generally takes 60 to 90 days to conduct the training needed to return aircrews to mission-ready status, and the time and cost associated with that retraining increases the longer that crews stay on the ground.

It is striking how sensitive ACC is to reductions in flying hour availability. I know of no human capital investment that is more costly and depreciates faster than fighter pilot currency.

Simulator training is used to assist in maintaining currency. What other means should the Air Force consider to reduce the cost and minimize the depreciation of this skill set? ​

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