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.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
