Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

James P. Stevenson • 177Table 2. Strategic Airlift Recommendations Compared With Service/OSD PlansService/OSD Plans forAircraft in 2030Recommended Numberof Aircraft in 2030Delta Cost percentage(est.)C-17s C-5Ms CivilReserveAir FleetApprox.250Approx.20552 Statusquo52 10%increaseKC-X/KC-10*Sealift/NSA†0% / 0% Statusquo/NSA20% /25%-20% 0 Small cost SmallCost2x/NoNSASignificantSavingsTotals302257-35%*Percentage of KC-X/KC-10 fleet employed for passenger and cargo carrying capability†NSA (Next Strategic Airlifter) is a notional replacement for the C-5/C-17.Avoiding the Advanced Joint Air Combat System (AJACS) 33 aircraft (which willlikely have a substantial R&D bill) precludes at least $5 billion to $10 billion by purchasinga modified commercial off-the-shelf New Tactical Airlifter (NTA). 34Based on the discussion above, we make the following recommendations:1. Keep tactical airlifters at approximately 400 tails, with a new mix of aircraft.2. Accelerate the retirement of C-130Es and older C-130Hs.3. Stop the C-130J buy at approximately 100 aircraft (divert C-130J productionto AFSOC aircraft).4. Buy approximately 100 JCAs for tactical airlift, assuming aggressive acquisitioncostcontainment and innovation to reduce JCA total costs. If that fails, pursueother alternatives (e.g., Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA), et al.)5. Aggressively pursue Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) in tactical airliftworldwide that is appropriate for partner countries.6. Reduce the cost of modifications on C-130s significantly (e.g., scale back orcancel C-130AMP).7. Pursue a commercial derivative New Tactical Airlifter (NTA) for the late 2010sthat is more cost-effective than the C-130J and AJACS.8. Cancel the U.S. Army’s Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) and Quad Tilt-Rotor programs. 35