The U.S. Air Force is modernizing sustainment of intercontinental ballistic missiles through a centralized funding program for missile system parts.

As of the first of this month, the Air Force Global Strike Command is responsible for day-to-day funding of the weapon system's parts costs instead of individual wing commanders.

"What happened before was that wings had to choose between whether or not to buy a missile part or buy something to support their people," said Daryle Fry, an AFGSC ICBM program analyst. "That is a choice a wing commander shouldn't have to make."

"As of Oct. 1, a technician can go into supply and ask to order a part without being concerned about funding. The wing orders the parts it needs, and the bill gets sent to AFGSC.

"Wing commanders can focus more on their people and support structure and 20th Air Force won't have to worry about advocating to command to find funding for parts," he said.

The Air Force said the ICBM Parts Centralized Funding program will help AFGSC determine the true requirements of ICBMs and could correct second- and third-order effects that cause improper weapons sustainment.

"In the long run, the program will start to reverse the effects of failing equipment, which will in turn reduce man hours, increase weapon system reliability and improve the overall performance of the weapon," the Air Force said.

AFGSC will run the program for about a year, after which it will be elevated up to Headquarters Air Force. ICBMs will then be funded like the service's other weapon systems.