Highlighting the effectiveness of the airlifter, John Sams, Boeing’s vice president for Air Force programs, told reporters Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that the C-17 fleet achieved an 85 percent mission capable rate in 2006—the highest rate for manned USAF aircraft. Worldwide, the C-17 has a departure reliability average around 93 percent over six years and maintenance man hours per flight hour have decreased 66 percent since 1994. The MC rate is even more impressive in light of the fact that 92 percent is as high as they can go, Sams said, since at any given time one or two aircraft will be in “home station” for regular organic maintenance and is not available for mission tasking.
House lawmakers are encouraging the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command to work together as each pursues long-range, long-endurance reconnaissance drones. Both entities are investing in unmanned assets that can slip into highly defended areas, loiter over a particularly valuable target for days at a time, and traverse multiple…