Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of US forces in Europe, told Congress Tuesday that he is concerned about mobility challenges EUCOM currently faces. In recent years “we began to atrophy,” he said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. When asked about airlift capability in the wake of several waves of C-5 Galaxy retirements since 2004, Scaparrotti said EUCOM’s airlift capability is “a little slower than I would like at this point.” He is particularly concerned about “civilian ships and aircraft that we routinely rely upon in a crisis,” though he said the US needs to update its knowledge of ground and rail infrastructure, as well. “We need agility,” Scaparrotti said, and added that Germany and other NATO allies have been helping to address this problem. “We are currently making investments as well as our allies and we should continue to do that.” The Air Force is in the process of upgrading 52 legacy Galaxies to the C-5M Super Galaxy configuration with new engines and avionics, and more reliable airframes.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
