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 The “current” SAR likely is outdated, though, since Boeing said last month that it had lowered the cost by 40 percent for the second C-130 over the first Hercules to go through the AMP upgrade by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.
Billy Mitchell: Lessons a Hundred Years Hence
Dec. 16, 2025
Exactly 100 years ago, on Dec. 17, 1925, Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell was convicted by court-martial for violating an order that required approval before he could engage with the media. Mitchell’s provocative thoughts and unorthodox methods sought attention for a cause that he saw as uniquely American
