After all the excitement of two weeks ago, things have been pretty quiet in the C-17 budget boxing matchup. With the congress still on vacation, and everybody talking about healthcare, there was not much focus on the big planes and their budget. Still, there are a few interesting items to note, and then we will present a useful overview on how these planes are actually used--written by two of the USAF pilots who fly them.
Perhaps the most significant public discussion of the future of the C-17 didn't mention the planes at all. Last Monday, 8/31/09, Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, gave an interview to Peter Cook of Bloomberg News. This interview occurred while Gates was touring Lockheed's F-35 plant in Georgia.
As with every other time the question of cutting the defense budget and the threat of a Presidential veto is discussed, the C-17 was not mentioned. Gates did not bring it up and Cook did not ask about it. He asked about the other 3 program cuts (the F-22, second engine for the F-35, and the new presidential helicopters) Gates wants and that have been much discussed, but nothing on the C-17, which Gates also wants to terminate.
In addition to Gates' nondiscussion of the C-17, two interested parties from outside our metaphorical boxing ring threw a couple of punches. One was a release from a private company, Global HeavyLift Holdings, LLC. The other was an article from the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in Washington.
Global HeavyLift Holdings, LLC. is pushing long term USAF procurement of new C-17s, coupled with resale of the older planes to the company. Global would then operate the planes as a commercial variant, while also committing emergency use of the planes to the military through the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. According to the company, the value the government would get for the resale of the older C-17s, plus a more economical long term production commitment, would save taxpayer money. If Global could get the planes into commercial use at a low enough cost--including any retro-fit needed--they could make the entire thing profitable.
This strategy by Global is not new, they have been working it for a few years. The press release they recently distributed suggests the idea is still alive and kicking. If Global operated the C-17 outside of the military, it would be a first. Currently, of the three planes on the planet that can carry the U.S. Army's main battle tank, two of them (the C-5 and the C-17) are only operated by the U.S. military and our allies. The third plane which can carry the U.S. Army's tanks, the Russian AN-124, is flown by commercial operators and is contracted to the US Air Force to provide air lift beyond what the fleets of C-5s and C-17s can handle. Presumably, if the nation and our allies were to adopt the Global strategy, use of the Russian planes could eventually be discontinued.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Straus Military Reform Project published an article entitled "Pentagon Reform: Will It Ever Start?" According to the release, The paper was published by Military.com and co-written by Winslow T. Wheeler, the Director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in Washington. "He worked on national security issues on Capitol Hill for 31 years for U.S. senators from both political parties and the Government Accountability Office."
The other co-writer, according to the release, is "Pierre M. Sprey, who, together with Air Force Cols. John Boyd and Everest Riccioni, brought to fruition the F-16. Sprey also led the design team for the A-10 and helped implement the program. He is one of a very small number of Pentagon insiders who started the military reform movement in the late 1960s."
While this paper focuses on the entire defense acquisition process, there are some specific references to the C-17, as follows:
"The Air Force's C-17 transport, made by Boeing, is very much the same story {as the F-22}. At $327 million per copy (counting all procurement and development costs), it delivers far too little cargo at too much cost. A more fuel-efficient Boeing 747-8 freighter costs 10% less and hauls 85% more cargo for 85% longer range. The Air Force claims that the C-17 was designed to be able to land on "unprepared" runways. That ability proved to be only a demo stunt, unfortunately one that imposed major payload and cost penalties on the design. Even for demos, it takes weeks to prepare the "unprepared" landing strip."
The following, re-published with permission, provides an illustrative and well written, even if possibly bias, description of the current uses of the C-17.
Globemaster dominates landscape, sky worldwide
By Capt. David Gaulin & Capt. Scott Konzem, of the 6th Airlift Squadron
8/19/2009 - JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- On any given day at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., the casual flightline observer is privy to flurry of activity. In addition to the bustle of KC-10 Extenders, contract cargo carriers and transient Air Force aircraft from every corner of the globe, McGuire's 13 C-17A Globemaster III's, operated by the 6th and 732nd Airlift Squadrons, serve as a dominant force on the landscape.
For this casual observer of the flightline, it might seem as if life for these distinctive "T"-tailed jets and their aircrews, maintainers and support crews, consists of days spent flying around the flagpole practicing takeoffs and landings. However, those who have spent time deployed in the last ten years know the truth of the C-17 - it has become the workhorse of cargo, troop, aeromedical and airdrop transportation both into and within "the theater."
The unique capabilities of the Globemaster - specifically its ability to carry outsize cargo into austere airfields - have proven to be an indispensible asset within the Central Command area of responsibility. With President Obama's shift in focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, a complete logistical network to transfer personnel and supplies from one country to the other had to be created rapidly. In addition, the existing support network for Afghanistan had to be improved to accommodate the heightened operational levels. To make matters more difficult, all of the equipment was being moved into a country with poor infrastructure, landlocked by brutal deserts, imposing mountains and unfriendly neighbors.
outsize
The Tanker Airlift Command Center, which controls airlift assets for Air Mobility Command, worked closely with the theater airlift authorities in the Air Mobility Division of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center to facilitate this move. At the heart of the effort to perform this daunting feat were the efforts of the Globemaster and the men and women who train to operate, maintain and support them.
Of note, C-17s recently played a key role in the transportation of the entire 2nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion from Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan to Camp Bastion in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. All told, this move consisted of more than 171 missions, transporting 5.7 million pounds of cargo and more than 9,500 passengers.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, C-17s are performing assault landings into austere airfields, a challenging task that crews practice for at Lakehurst's assault landing zone. Crews are also conducting "combat offloads" at austere bases, allowing cargo to be offloaded in a minimum amount of time without the use of forklifts or Tunner Loaders.
The challenging topography of the Hindu Kush Mountains provides a unique challenge, featuring forward operating bases which can only be supplied via airdrop. The 57th Weapons Squadron, based at McGuire, trains C-17 experts that develop the tactics, techniques and procedures which make these airdrop missions possible. They are critical in supporting the more than 800-percent increase in Afghani airdrop missions since 2005 - missions that provide the food, fuel and ammunition that IAF forces need to bring the fight to the enemy in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
In addition to the outstanding capability of the C-17 to move a profusion of cargo into and out of some of the most challenging locations imaginable, a key part of the Globemaster's mission involves functioning as a flying hospital. The C-17 plays a critical role in aeromedical evacuation, helping to maintain the outstanding 98 percent survivability rate currently boasted for injured personnel transported from expeditionary medical facilities to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan pose major logistical challenges to the warfighter. However, the capabilities of the C-17, when combined with the efforts of those who maintain, fuel, load, plan, coordinate and fly the aircraft, are making incredible things happen. The future looks bright and busy for McGuire's C-17s and those who support them.
Stay tuned, the congress returns from vacation this week and passing the 2010 defense budget is one of the items on their agenda.
