By Emelie Rutherford
Lawmakers questioned military officials yesterday about a new study that concluded the Pentagon has more than enough planned strategic-airlift aircraft, including Boeing‘s [BA] C-17 cargo haulers.
The Pentagon’s Mobility Capabilities Study 2016 (MCRS 2016), which was released in March and is an update of a 2005 study, concluded the Defense Department has sufficient inter-theater and intra-theater airlift capability.
The Pentagon has programmed for a strategic airlift fleet of 223 C-17s and 111 of Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] C-5 transport aircraft. That number of C-17s grew from 180 in the previous mobility study after lawmakers consistently funded additional aircraft, for a new total of 223, over Pentagon objections.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2011 budget proposal is again calling for halting additional C-17 buys. Gates has said he will “strongly recommend” President Barack Obama veto the FY ’11 defense budget bills if more C-17s are added.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Michelle Johnson told the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces subcommittee in written testimony yesterday that the Pentagon’s programmed strategic airlift fleet of 223 C-17s and 111 C-5s provides a capacity of 35.9 million ton-miles per day, which is more than the “highest MCRS demand” of 32.7 million ton-miles per day.
Johnson is the director for strategy, policy, programs, and logistics at Transportation Command (TRANSCOM).
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), chairman of the Air and Land Forces panel, noted that TRANSCOM Commander Gen. Duncan McNabb and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, McNabb’s predecessor at TRANSCOM, previously testified that a force of 316 strategic airlift aircraft is the so-called sweet spot. Congress passed legislation last year setting 316 as the minimum number of strategic-airlift aircraft.
Smith quizzed Pentagon officials at yesterday’s hearing on Air Force plans to retire 17 C-5s in 2011 and five more of the aircraft in 2012, lowering the airlift inventory from the programmed number of 334 to below 316. The Pentagon is planning to submit a legislative proposal in FY ’12 to change the statute mandating the 316 strategic-airlift aircraft, so that a lower number is allowed.
Johnson said the latest mobility study–which looked at three warfighting scenarios–determined the strategic-airlift capacity “with more fidelity” than the 2005 study did.
The range of needed strategic airlift in the new study is 274 to 304 aircraft, she said. McNabb and Schwartz cited the 316 figure before the new study concluded, and at the time used their “best judgment” before the new analysis was complete, she said.
“The 304 provides the capacity that TRANSCOM’s looking for and then we’d count on the Air Force to manage that fleet internally just to maintain that capacity,” she added.
Pentagon officials told the House panel yesterday they have no plans to buy more than 223 C-17s, a possibility lawmakers have raised considering the diminishing condition of the C-5s.
“As we compare the number of C-17s and number of C-5s that we have–compared against the MCRS number of 32.7, which is the highest-case number of million ton-miles per day–we feel that the number of 223 C-17s, based on the number of C-5s (we plan for) the force for the next 20 years or so, is about right,” said Brig. Gen. Richard Johnston, director of strategic planning at Air Force headquarters.
The Pentagon has approximately 197 C-17s now, and expects to have all 223 of the aircraft that have been funded from Boeing in FY ’12, he said.