Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said Thursday afternoon at AFA’s Orlando symposium that there “undoubtedly” will be a Nunn-McCurdy breach on the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program and Reliability and Re-engining Program. Once that happens, the whole C-5 AMP and RERP effort must be re-assessed, and Moseley said it might not be worth it to do the mod on the older C-5A. That model, even with the improvements, will only get up to about a 60 percent mission capable rate, he said, and will only be available for another 25 years. “Five billion is a lot to spend on a 25-year airplane,” Moseley said. Wynne added, “We think there’s a better use for the resources,” such as tankers, more C-17s, more C-130Js or the yet-undefined Joint Cargo Aircraft.
Three of four congressional committees with influence over defense policy have voted to change the official name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War—but final approval of the Pentagon rebrand is months away and not yet assured.