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Show ' March "HILtTOP TIMES rcyw 20, 1981 dltoflal oiraoir! By irk "The first priority is to fix the ICBMs vulnerability of our land-base- d . . . second priority is to begin to redress our very serious airlift problem." These are Air Force priorities for 1981, according to Lt. Gen. Kelly H. Burke, deputy chief of staff for research, and development acquisition. General Burke discussed these and America's strategic position in the '80s and the weapons that will carry the nation into the next decade in a copyrighted interview with Defense Week. DSfts Ad it F ire Comparing costs of the M-- shelters ballistic-missil- e r to a defense system, General Burke said, "We could build a defense system for a fixed silo but at the current state of development, that would probably cost a fair amount more than it would cost the Soviets to add another warhead to 'c offset it. X fixed-shelte- defense "However, ballistic-missil- e looks enormously attractive when you marry it with the multiple protective shelter (system). . . . With a selective defense, you defend only one of the 23 (pro oirfe basing mode) that is loaded. The Soviets would have to fire 23 warheads at that system complex. Quite clearly we can build that system for less than they can build in that airplane and how it would compare with the other proposals. A Looking at airlift, the general said, in my mind clearly "The term C-in addition to new airembodies C-- 5 or derivatives of the the planes request for proposals made that explicit. "The big question is what kind of costs and capabilities they would offer Burke called multi-yea- r contracting a quick, sure way to save 6 aircraft is one money. The system the Air Force is looking at to buy on such a contract. Others are the shelters (in the M-- X 23 warheads." X G-5O- ur lot of controversy surrounding the C-will go away when we get contractually binding numbers and can make X comparisons." General F-1- cruise missile, the guided bomb and the global (AFNS) positioning satellite system. air-launch- low-lev- el ed DCS Comptroller Log istics De bill ioinis eodh) :hsnd people yeoir American industry. We must have a system of accounts that lets us safeguard their funds and also do the same kinds of things with their monies that we do with ours. If they want a particular item and we also want the item, we will marry the requirements and procure them at one time in order to take advantage of a lower price based on quantity. We are now involved with about 65 foreign governments and the 4,766 cases are worth about $12 billion. (Editor's note: LOGNEWS interviewed Brig. Gen. David M. Hall, deputy chief of staff for Comptroller, Headquarters, Air Force Logistics Command.) Q: We talk a great deal about the fact that AFLC manages about $20 billion. How much of this is for AFLC as a command and how much for the other commands? A: Well, of that total $20 billion, somewhere in the neighborhood of five percent supports AFLC. Ninety-fivpercent of that $20 billion USAF operating forces. As a matter supports the of fact, when you take that money and break it down, you find that it is going to things like procurement of spare parts of aircraft and missiles; procurement of equipment, vehicles and munitions; and financing the repair lines in air logistics centers which repair and modify aircraft. We also buy, supply and transport supplies and equipment for more than 100 air bases throughout the world in support of 20 major commands or separate operating agencies so that they can do their job. Some of the money goes to put materials on the shelves that can later be moved to other operating air bases. e Q: Would it be possible for AFLC to carry out its operation without the individual budget ' analysts out there who are dealing with the numbers and setting them on paper for you? A: You probably could operate without them but someone else would do the work which they are doing perhaps under a different title. The budget analyst in my view has a dual role in terms of his or her primary responsibility. Number one, the analyst must know and understand the area he or she is responsible for well enough so that they can talk to the functional people, un- - Q: Apparently you have a function that is far beyond merely adding up the money and disbursing it. You have to provide all forms of analyses and you have to provide recommendations. You are giving the Commander not only the dollar analysis he needs, but also the benefit analysis he needs. Do you also provide indicators on how well his organization is doing? A: We do quite a bit of the latter, taking a look at how the organization is doing. We have about 40 of what we call "Health of the Command" indicators which we produce on a monthly basis and from which we highlight, selected topics each month during a formal management review. The list of topics is different each month but on a quarterly cycle we get around to all of them. At the management reviews, we brief these topics to the Commander, with the DCSs or their representatives in attendance. We look at the various functional areas and what the problems are and what is being done to correct those problems. The management review is probably our product that gets the most visibility in the management information arena. Q: If you were in a young group that was due for commissioning this spring or summer, would there be any hesitation now with your background with choosing the Comptroller career field? A: No, absolutely none. As a matter of fact, think the Comptroller career field offers an excellent opportunity for a young person. It is one of those areas that touches the broad spectrum of the Air Force. You can really get to know the organization you are 'in, how it operates, who really operates it and what it is in business for by being in the Comptroller field. This is because you have to deal with all of the organization's dollar requirements and you can ; Q: Could we make our $20 billion go farther end buy more fighting capability if were were cSowed to have multi-yea- r budgets? A: think that we could do a better job with multi-yea- r funding.lt would permit us to take advantage of lower prices by contracting for a larger volume of items or repair services. For r contract for example if we could get a certain items, we might frequently do it cheaper overall than by having two one year contracts. the real advantage of Therein lies I think multi-yea- r Now there are some funding. multi-yea- r to funding, most of which challenges we how around center manage the money. Qi How has the increase in foreign military sales effected the AFLC Comptroller? A: It has affected our function several ways. Number one, we are now the custodians for monies that actually belong to foreign governments who entrust that money to us against "cases" with their country. These (cases) permit them to order supplies, materials and equipment to be used in support of weapon systems that they have acquired through the Air Force from 1 two-yea- -- Everything advertised in the Hill Top Times must be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to the race, creed, color, national originor sex of the purchaser, user or pctronv. derstand what they need, and translate that into dependable justification as we go forward. The second thing that the analyst must do is play the role of ombudsman, if you will, as the money is distributed. If it's not enough, the analyst must work with those people to establish a priority of unfunded items that we can work with and eventually try to generate justification for money to solve those kinds of problems. IV 1 . - Brig. Gen. David M. Hall A confirmed violation or rejection of this policy of equal opportunities by an advertiser will result in the refusal ,v.v: v.v to print advertising from that source. ViM ,A .v.v do nothing without dollars. (LOGNEWS) MorMedia Sales, Inc., 1152 West Riverdale Road, Ogden, Utah 84403. Telephone 394-965Sorry, classified ads by mall only. Send $3 to P.O. Box 423. Roy. Utah 84CS7.. 5. |