Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

170 • Air Mobility Alternatives for a New Administrationcargo airlift requirements, about 50 percent of the aeromedical evacuation requirementsand approximately 90 percent of the passenger transport requirements. 13Among the strategic airlift questions for the next administration will be:• What is the right mix and capacity of strategic airlift?• Do we continue the C-17 production line past fiscal year 2009? If so, for howlong and how many?• If not, what do we do with C-5As that appear to have a limited service life?• What do we do about the high cost of C-5 RERP?• What do we do about the other high costs associated with modifying both oldand new strategic airlifters?• What are some innovative and more cost-effective courses of action?• Do we focus more on sealift versus airlift?• Can we leverage more capability out of CRAF?• Should we count a portion of the new tankers as part of airlift?Tactical AirliftTactical airlift consists of airlift used primarily within the theater. The venerable legacyC-130Hs and other models, of which there are approximately 275, have been themainstay of the force. The latest U.S. Air Force plans call for the retirement of all theC-130Es by around 2014. Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Air Force has been purchasingthe latest version of the C-130 – the C-130J, with current plans going from about 80C-130Js to about 120 C-130Js – almost all of them the C-130J-30s. With new enginesand avionics, this is clearly an upgrade over the C-130Hs, but at more than twice thereal cost for only about 25-percent improvement in capability and performance. 14Despite no major scandals, the C-130J program has had a very rocky road. As of justa few years ago, DOT&E submitted a scathing report on C-130J performance andacquisition problems to the Secretary of Defense and Congress. 15Since 2004, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have been working on the JointCargo Aircraft (JCA). In 2006, the C-27J Spartan was selected as the JCA. The C-27Jis about half the size of a C-130J, carries about half the load, costs half of a C-130J