Lawmakers appear to be taking sides in a battle for defense budget dollars centering on the Air Force’s two strategic airlifters—specifically the C-5A vs. the C-17. One side favors revamping the 48 oldest C-5s, while the other side wants to buy more than the currently authorized 190 new C-17s. At a March 7 House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee hearing, C-5 advocates Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) questioned the Air Force’s desire to retire the C-5As, maintaining that, once the A models receive new avionics and new engines they will last another 25 years and that such upgrades cost less than buying new C-17s—Gingrey said “one-third that of a new C-17.” They also noted that the C-5 can haul some military equipment that won’t fit on the C-17. And, Marshall maintained that once upgraded, the notorious 49.5 percent mission capability rate would rise nearly to the level of the C-17. (See below.) On the other side, James Saxton (R-N.J.) noted that the number of times the Air Force can fly the mammoth C-5 fully loaded “is really small,” arguing that just because it can haul twice the load of a C-17 doesn’t make it “the ultimate airplane.”

Advocates for upgrading the entire fleet of huge C-5 airlifters, both the A and B models, maintain that the revamped aircraft would achieve a mission capability rate of nearly 85 percent, a big jump from its present 49 percent. However,...

The Air Force aided the launch of six satellites—collectively known as Space Test Program-1—aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V evolved expendable launch vehicle on March 8 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. One of the satellites was the first Air...

The Air Force does plan to hold a reduction in force board in June to identify approximately 600 officers in select year groups—1995, 1996, 2000, and 2001—to involuntary separate from the service by Jan. 29, 2008. Service officials said in...

The head of US Forces Korea, Army Gen. Burwell Bell, testified last week at a House Armed Services Committee hearing that it is time to switch the one-year tour to South Korea to a “normal, three-year accompanied tour.” Bell explained,...

Taking shots at the Pentagon’s 2006 Mobility Capability Study was the name of the game at a March 7 House Armed Services hearing on Air and Land Forces. Ranking member James Saxton (R-N.J.) asserted that the MCS, begun in 2004,...

The Government Accountability Office in a new report says that the military services and DOD disagree over the number of officers commissioned into each service. The variances found were 28 percent for the Army, six percent for the Navy, 39...

Among governors who have made trips to Southwest Asia to visit with deployed military members are Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota and Janet Napolitano of Arizona. The two were at Balad AB, Iraq, last week on a tour with National Guard...

Pentagon leaders acknowledged last week that it is time to revamp the DOD and VA disability rating evaluation systems. The news came as hearings continued on the treatment of wounded veterans following Washington Post articles detailing deplorable conditions and bureaucratic...

A Boeing KC-767 tanker refueled an F-15E on March 6, just one day after its first air-to-air refueling test—this one with a B-52. The March 5 test featured 73 connections, as Boeing officials checked out the aircraft’s “fifth-generation, fly-by-wire air...

The US Air Force Academy now has 37 cases of cadet cheating under investigation, instead of the 36 reported earlier. Of the 37 cases, 27 fourth class cadets have admitted they cheated on a Fourth Class Knowledge Test. Of those...

March 7, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 8 22 CAS/Armed Recon 46 57 103 Airlift 165 165 Air refueling 39 39 Total 60 65 204 329 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance