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AF chief of staff: Government and industry must work together

Robert D. Ward/NYT Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz of the U.S. Air Force during a news conference in 2004. AP file photo.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 11:25 PM Tuesday, April 21, 2009

DAYTON — Air Force acquisition personnel need to deliver on promises — and never promise what they can’t deliver, the service’s chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz told some 700 local listeners Tuesday April 21.

Schwartz made his remarks at Department of Defense Acquisition Insight Days, held this week at Sinclair Community College. The four-star general referred to challenging times for acquisition professionals, reminding listeners at one point of the KC-X program, which the Air Force launched in 2007 to replace the aging KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. Last June, Boeing protested the DoD’s selection of Northrop Grumman’s offering, halting the award for the time being.

Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he opposed splitting the contract between Boeing and Northrop Grumman and its partners.

Schwartz said the service must ensure that bidding and acquisition are “perfecto.”

“I can tell you, what we’ve had over the last couple of years hasn’t put America’s warfighter in a better position,” Schwartz said. “So somehow, government and industry has to get better. Part of that is communicating better.”

The key is to “make sure there are no surprises, no misunderstandings, at least at the strategic level,” he said.

Sponsored by Defense Acquisition University Alumni Association, Insight Days is a three-day series of workshops and talks exploring issues facing acquisition and logistics leaders.

Also speaking Tuesday was Gen. Donald Hoffman, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, which is based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is responsible for shepherding nearly all Air Force planes and weapons systems.

Of the issues Hoffman said he thinks about every day, one is protecting and “reinvigorating” Air Force nuclear forces, he told a standing-room-only audience in Sinclair’s Ponitz Hall.

In 2008, the Air Force’s two top officers resigned after a report criticized the service’s handling of nuclear weapons.

“It can never go on the backburner,” Hoffman said of the Air Force’s nuclear posture.

Hoffman and Schwartz could not be approached for comment on a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal that “computer spies” had broken into the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter project.

But an AFMC spokesman forwarded a statement from the Pentagon, saying, “DoD systems are probed daily; we take all threats seriously and defend our systems in-depth every day. These threats come in many forms — including recreational hackers, self-styled cyber-vigilantes, groups with nationalistic or ideological agendas, transnational actors and nation-states. We aggressively monitor our networks for intrusions and have appropriate procedures to address these threats.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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