Inside the Air Force highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force:

1. While praising acquisition reform measures included in the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, the Air Force is cautioning Congress not to move too swiftly in its attempt to give more authority to service chiefs, noting that a major shift could over-burden chiefs of staff and blur the lines between the roles of the chief and the service secretary.

Full story: Air Force urges caution in expanding service chiefs' acquisition authorities

2. Continued schedule breaches and performance issues in the development of the Air and Space Operations Center Increment 10.2 upgrade have triggered a critical change report and will likely push an already-delayed milestone C decision two years to the right -- from June to a tentative date of summer 2018.

Full story: Air Operations Center 10.2 milestone C may be delayed two more years

3. The Air Force calculates that modernizing the silo-based missile portion of the nuclear triad will yield as much as $20 billion in cost avoidance over five decades compared with extending the life of the current fleet of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a senior service official.

Full story: USAF estimates $20B savings with new ICBM compared with Minuteman life extension

4. The Defense Department estimates the cost to modernize U.S. nuclear forces will be between $350 billion and $450 billion over two decades -- a sum that does not include warhead acquisition nor operations cost -- providing a key data point in a policy debate that until now has been largely framed by cost estimates from think tanks and congressional auditors.

Full story: Pentagon pegs nuclear modernization tab at $350B to $450B over 20 years