If the C-5 upgrade is going to require spending almost as much per airplane as buying new C-17s, then the nation should go with the C-17s, AMC chief Gen. Arthur Lichte told reporters in Washington Wednesday. The justification for hanging onto the C-5 has largely been that it can carry super-large, bulky stuff, but “there are not that many missions the C-17 can’t do that the C-5 can,” Lichte said. He added that it might make sense to forego the upgrade but retain some number of C-5s for those unique missions where only it can handle the job. The key, Lichte said, is “velocity.” He would prefer having to fly two C-17s, which can get a mission done with high reliability, rather than gamble on a single larger C-5 that “breaks along the way.” Is it critical to decide the fate of the C-5 reliability enhancement and re-engining program while the C-17 production line is still running hot? “Yes,” said Lichte.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
