If a report by Roxana Tiron in The Hill is correct, conferees working the 2008 defense authorization bill have decided the Army shouldn’t be kicked out of the Joint Cargo Aircraft program. Despite House leanings toward a full roles and missions scrub, House conferees cast out a Senate provision that would have given JCA to the Air Force alone. They argued that the roles and missions debate needs more light of day than the Senate provided. Stay tuned.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.