Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

James P. Stevenson • 169The vast majority of the aerial refueling tankers will reside in the U.S. Air Forceand, by fiscal year 2009 (FY 09), will consist of approximately 420 Eisenhower-eraKC-135s and 59 KC-10s, for a total of just under 500 strategic tankers. It is importantto note that a strategic tanker refers to the aircraft itself as being strategic (usuallylarger and longer range like strategic airlift), not what it refuels. The next tanker, theKC-X 7 , will have the capability and flexibility to be both tanker (refuel with a boomfor Air Force aircraft and “hose and drogue” for Navy aircraft on each mission) andairlifter, similar to the KC-10. 8 The Navy uses F-18s to air refuel other carrier aircraftand turns to contracts, such as with Omega Air, for niche air-refueling capabilities.However, the vast majority of the U.S. Navy’s wartime air-refueling requirements areprovided by the U.S. Air Force. On the other hand, the U.S. Marine Corps uses about75 KC-130s (several variants) for air refueling (fixed wing, helicopters and CV-22s)and ground refueling. Since fiscal year 2000, the Marine Corps has been buying KC-130Js, permitting them to retire all the older KC-130 models with an eventual goal ofapproximately 80 KC-130Js. In addition to these capabilities, air refueling for specialoperations by the multi-mission MC-130/HC-130 aircraft (sometimes referred to astactical air refueler) is particularly important in today’s environment. 9Strategic AirliftStrategic airlift carries passengers, materiel and weapons long distances betweencontinents or theaters (intertheater). By fiscal year 2009, the United States will haveapproximately 300 strategic airlifters consisting of 190 C-17s, 59 C-5As and 52 C-5B/C/Ms. The C-17 has been one of the U.S. Air Force’s “crown jewels” since themid-1990s. Its effectiveness has been touted by the Air Force, but it has come withhigh acquisition and operating costs. The C-17 is arguably versatile, serving as both astrategic and tactical airlifter but not as efficient as a pure strategic airlifter (e.g., C-5Bor C-141B). At the tactical level, the C-17 is costly to operate and it exposes a $300million aircraft when it flies into a combat zone.Procurement of C-5s in the 1970s resulted in one of DOD’s biggest acquisitionscandals. Recently, the U.S. Air Force went through cost reporting proceedings, basedon the Nunn-McCurdy legislation, with the C-5 Re-engineering and ReplacementProgram (RERP), because of excessive cost growth resulting in an approximately 50percent increase in unit costs. 10 As a result, in January 2008, the Office of Secretaryof Defense (OSD) decided to limit RERP to only about 50 C-5B/C aircraft (these arethe C-5s that were bought in the 1980s) but to continue the modernization of all C-5avionics. 11Another critically important segment of strategic airlift is the Civil Reserve AirFleet (CRAF). The CRAF supports DOD airlift requirements in emergencies with commercialairlines pledging aircraft for various segments of the strategic lift mission. 12Currently, the CRAF is capable of meeting approximately 40 percent of the wartime