USAF has put lawmakers in the “dilemma” of having to make a decision about the service’s request to retire 30 older C-5 airlifters and purchase 30 additional new C-17s in their stead based on “imperfect information,” admitted Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, USAF’s military acquisition chief. Hoffman told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Service’s air-land panel April 26 that the service simply won’t know how much program cost growth it will have on the C-5 reliability enhancement and re-engining program until “later this summer.” Unfortunately, a Congressional decision cannot be put off, he declared, “because, if no decision is made, that, in fact, is a decision, and the C-17 factory will start to shut down.”
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.