The Pentagon’s latest selected acquisition report—for the December 2006 reporting period—shows that the Air Force’s C-130 avionics modernization program did increase in cost—by some 21 percent—as USAF predicted. The rise, per the SAR release, was due “primarily to increases in labor rates and install hours … and increases in mission support equipment, simulator/trainers, depot costs, and other weapon system costs.” The Air Force decision not to pursue AMP for 166 C-130s helped “partially offset” the increase. The service has had to ground or restrict 53 of its C-130s, including three that are in such poor shape USAF would have to pay $2 million per aircraft to repair them; the service decided last year not to apply the AMP upgrade to its oldest E models. The “current” SAR likely is outdated, though, since Boeing said last month that it had lowered the cost by 40 percent for the second C-130 over the first Hercules to go through the AMP upgrade by developing efficiencies during the process.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
