By Marina Malenic
Congressional supporters of the Pentagon’s plan to end procurement of C-17 Globemaster cargo haulers said yesterday that the expected slowdown in U.S. defense spending as well as the country’s mounting budget deficit could finally help end lawmakers’ multiyear streak of adding unwanted C-17’s to the department’s annual weapons buy.
“This is a fight worth having,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). “The current environment could lend itself to prevailing over the appropriators and putting an end to excess [C-17] buys.”
McCain was speaking at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Committee Chairman Tom Carpenter (D-Del.) noted that lawmakers “are going to have to make some tough decisions about which weapon systems to fund.”
Lawmakers have not been outspoken this year in pushing for more of the Boeing [BA]-built aircraft. None are included in the versions of the defense authorization bill that have cleared the full House and a Senate panel. However, additional buys have support among appropriators who will craft the appropriations legislation, including Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee and members Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) (Defense Daily, June 17).
Opponents, however, are emphasizing fiscal constraint.
“While the C-17 is an exceptional aircraft, in this economy we simply cannot afford to increase our C-17 fleet to unnecessarily high levels without good reason,” Carpenter said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that he would seek over $100 billion in savings from the DoD budget over the next five years and that he would recommend the President veto any legislation that contains additional funding for C-17s in Fiscal Year 2011.
The last time the Air Force asked Congress to buy C-17s was four years ago. The Air Force asked for 12 C-17s in Fiscal 2007, but Congress purchased 22.
Mike McCord, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense (comptroller), told Carpenter’s committee that several Pentagon studies have indicated that the department’s airlift needs are more than met by the current Air Force fleet.
“In terms of organic capacity, a strategic airlift fleet of 223 C-17s and 111 C-5s–the level now projected–provides a capacity of 35.9 million ton-miles per day, which more than covers the highest projected airlift demand of 32.7 million ton-miles per day,” McCord said.
Congress has provided 43 C-17s beyond what the Pentagon has requested since 2007. McCain noted that $8.25 billion has been spent on procurement of those aircraft.
Alan Estevez, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, noted that “adding force structure always adds cost.”
“Giving us something that we don’t need is the gift that keeps on giving,” he said. He explained that maintenance and sustainment cost–not even including additional hangars and other infrastructure for the aircraft–is extremely high. For example, he said, the additional 43 C-17s that Congress has authorized the purchase of are costing some $1 billion per year to maintain.
The Pentagon’s most recent Mobility Capabilities and Requirements Study, MCRS-16, concluded in February that the department’s planned strategic mobility capabilities are sufficient to support “the most demanding projected requirements.”
“In other words,” McCord said, “the analysis found that the number of C-5s and C-17s in the department’s program of record is sufficient even in the most demanding environments.”
Prior to the MCRS-16, the Institute for Defense Analyses performed a study in early 2009 to determine alternatives for the proper size and mix of fixed-wing intra-theater and inter-theater airlift assets to meet the National Military Strategy. The study considered 36 fleet mixes and concluded that the size and mix of the program-of-record fleet is adequate to meet requirements.
Further, the Air Force Viability Board concluded in 2004 that the C-5A, the oldest model in the fleet, will remain viable until at least 2025. And the fleet as a whole is expected to remain viable until 2040. The Reliability Enhancement and Re-engineering Program (RERP) is also expected to increase the reliability and availability of the airplanes.
A top Air Force official told the Senate panel the service’s fleet of 223 C17s and 111 C-5s provide “excess” airlift capacity.
“We do not need any more C-17s,” said Maj. Gen. Susan Desjardins, the director of strategic plans, requirements and programs at Air Mobility Command. “The fleet that we have right now is a strong fleet, and it’s right-sized.”