According to Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz the answer to that question is “not fully cooked, but it will be by the end of the month,” testifying at the May 21 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2010 Air Force budget proposal. However, that report is not necessarily for public consumption, for as Air Force Secretary Michael Donley pointed out that report is due to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn. Donley said, too, “I do not think this report will be the last report; I think this is an interim description of how far the conversations have gone, what issues we’ve identified, and the path we have outlined forward … related to the future bed downs, related to the program management transfer of responsibility.” When pressed as to whether the Army National Guard would still fly the new C-27s, Schwartz replied, “How this is going to lay in and who’s going to do it is not yet a done deal.”
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
