The Air Force, along with the Defense Department, is concerned about losing its technological advantage over other countries as a result of constant war and depleting budgets, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday
the top Air Force civilian has warned
.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said tThe Pentagon is focusing working to refocus on new technological research to avoid losing its place as the most advanced military in the world, she said at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
"We are concerned because of successive budgets in the most recent years where perhaps we have not invested in key areas where we otherwise wanted to invest in the future," James said Dec. 14 at the Atlantic Council in Washington. "We have been very, very directed on the here and now, which has been the war effort for the past 15 years."
Over that time span, enough too few technological advancements have not been made, so the Pentagon needs to "double down" on research. While much of the problem is attributable to costs, the military services need to find new ways to be creative and effective in using the money they do have, James said.
"It's partly innovation, it's partly bringing down costs," James said. "We all believe that our budgets are going to be constrained for the foreseeable future."
The military can't waste the money it does have, and it can't "keep asking our people to work harder and harder and harder, because we have fewer people."
The secretary's warning came as she announced new initiatives to speed up the Air Force's acquisition process, including being a way to be more flexible on requirements for of new weapons systems as a way to save money. The service will also change the way it handles industry events, called "plug fests," so it can quickly offer contracts to companies after they demonstrate weapons systems.
'We have got to stop spending more to get less and less," James said.
