Air Force CIO: we are still delivering 'yesterday's technology'.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSINSIDER

The Air Force is regarded as the most "high-tech" branch of the U.S. military. But when it comes to information-technology, the service is nowhere near the cutting edge, says Chief Information Officer Lt. Gen. William Lord.

Outdated contracting methods and a "risk averse" procurement culture are keeping the Air Force generations behind the latest technology in areas such as wireless communications and mobile networking, Lord said.

The Air Force acquisition bureaucracy is comfortable with the traditional "metal bending" business, but has yet to adapt to the information age, Lord says. The slow pace of military procurements, he says, is incompatible with the IT world, where technology advances in leaps and bounds.

Airmen who deploy to war zones, for instance, are stuck with technology that originated in the "ancient milspec environment," Lord says. "They want to know why the new technology is not...