Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, commander of 20th Air Force, told House legislators that appropriators who cut a new helicopter from his budget are worsening a bad situation. “These are 1960s, 1970s helicopters,” he told a House Armed Services panel Thursday of his fleet of UH-1s. “They don’t meet DOD requirements for payload, capacity, and range,” and they can’t get where they’re going at the requisite speed, especially if a missile silo was under attack. “Any delay” in replacing the helos that support the nuclear mission “is a real danger” to security forces being able to perform their mission, he said. He also noted that 20th AF needs a new ground vehicle because the Humvee is ill-suited to the mission. It travels on US roads, “has no anti-lock brakes,” and at idle can’t keep passengers warm when a North Dakota winter throws “minus 40 degrees” at the crew, Weinstein said.
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.