Air Force portal rolling out slowly

An Air Force portal has been introduced to more than 200,000 users, but the project needs to move faster to keep up with evolving technology, according to Ronald Orr, the service's assistant deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics.

The Air Force has hundreds of separately managed computer systems using different — and often incompatible — software. While some have automated point-to-point interfaces, many require a manual exchange of data.

The Web portal will provide a single point of entry for all systems, allowing commanders and service personnel to conduct virtually all business, from combat missions to updating personnel records, from one Web site.

"We've rolled that out to approximately 200,000 people as of this month. I felt that was too slow," Orr said, explaining that the acquisition process is too slow to keep up with technological innovation. "We're still buying information systems like we buy F-22s. We've been buying F-22s for 14 years."

The Air Force intends to have all unclassified combat and mission support and service applications available through the Air Force portal by July.