Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

James P. Stevenson • 179envision AFSOC acquiring the New Tactical Airlifter (NTA) that we recommendedin the Tactical Airlift Section that could be used in Special Operations Air for a newAC or MC variant.Several years ago, AFSOC recommended the establishment of an Irregular WarfareWing that would include 44 airlifters (such as the M28 Skytruck and aircraft up toC-27J class), 20 helicopters (for example, Mi-17 class), and light attack aircraft (forexample, EMB314 class). These COIN aircraft would help further Building PartnershipCapacity and at the same time could be used in OIF and OEF instead of very expensivefighters and UAVs. All these aircraft should cost, in flyaway dollars, about $10 millioneach – meaning the whole irregular warfare (IW) wing could be acquired for less than$1 billion, compared to a new F-35 wing that would be seven to ten times more costly.The IW wing would also be significantly less costly to operate each year.Based on the discussion above, we make the following recommendations:1. Stop the CV-22 buy immediately. Replace it with an H-X (e.g., CH-53K, H-92,CH-47, EH-101 or a combination of several).2. Recapitalize most of the current capacity of MC-130s with C-130Js, but anyadditional capacity will be provided with a smaller and cheaper aircraft (e.g.C-27Js and its kin).3. Develop lower cost alternatives to the AC-130s (e.g. AC-27J) and increase totalgunship numbers.4. Acquire the Next Tactical Airlifter (NTA) as a follow-on to the C-130J in the2020s.5. Instead of buying more MQ-1s or MQ-9s, buy small, manned aircraft thatcan do ISR, mobility and light strike (e.g. FID/COIN aircraft) to help BuildingPartnership Capacity. 37By following the above recommendations, the cost of Special Operations Air canbe reduced by approximately 20 percent.ConclusionsThe current military services’ and Office of the Secretary of Defense’s plans for airmobility 38 should not continue. They are unfeasible and will lead to a significant lossof capability in the future. As we know from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and other reporting over the years,current plans will invariably mean significant cost growth requiring significantly