Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said Thursday afternoon at AFA’s Orlando symposium that there “undoubtedly” will be a Nunn-McCurdy breach on the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program and Reliability and Re-engining Program. Once that happens, the whole C-5 AMP and RERP effort must be re-assessed, and Moseley said it might not be worth it to do the mod on the older C-5A. That model, even with the improvements, will only get up to about a 60 percent mission capable rate, he said, and will only be available for another 25 years. “Five billion is a lot to spend on a 25-year airplane,” Moseley said. Wynne added, “We think there’s a better use for the resources,” such as tankers, more C-17s, more C-130Js or the yet-undefined Joint Cargo Aircraft.
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.