House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter says that his committee and the Government Accountability Office “have reservations” about the “completeness” of the Pentagon’s Mobility Capabilities Study. Speaking at a Thursday hearing to review the TRANSCOM budget request, Hunter noted that DOD considered the MCS a “full spectrum assessment,” yet the MCS calls for five supporting studies “that could change the MCS results.” And, he said, the MCS “contains more than 80 references” recommending further analysis. The GAO, added Hunter, urges “caution when using the report as a basis for making program decisions.” In case you’ve forgotten, the Pentagon used the MCS to inform the QDR on the matter of ending C-17 production at 180 aircraft. Hunter believes the QDR was purely budget driven.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…