Senators want the Pentagon to continue to review the question of airlift sufficiency. In floor remarks, Talent quoted Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, who said recently that the C-17 was “worth its weight in gold.” Retired Gen. John Handy, who stepped down this fall as head of Air Mobility Command and US Transportation Command, had long contended that 222 C-17s was the minimum required to meet the existing mobility requirement. And that requirement has gone up.
The House Armed Services Committee on June 4 approved an amendment to a key defense policy bill that would bar the Air Force from retiring E-3 Sentry aircraft through fiscal 2027.