{"id":332555,"date":"2010-02-17T18:48:38","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T23:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.szone.us\/f95\/flimsy-rationale-cutting-c-17-program-39577\/"},"modified":"2010-02-17T18:48:38","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T23:48:38","slug":"the-flimsy-rationale-for-cutting-the-c-17-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/332555","title":{"rendered":"The Flimsy Rationale for Cutting the C-17 Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
On 02.17.10 01:00 PM posted by Matt Mayer<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On February 2nd, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress<\/a> that the military needs no additional C-17 aircraft and that the production line should be shut down in 2011.* His testimony drew bipartisan criticism from several senators, including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).* Senator McCaskill protested \u0093we keep hearing\u0085this is something that the military doesn\u0092t want.\u0085 Then I go over there [to Afghanistan and Iraq], and that\u0092s not their attitude at all.\u0094 *Sen. Inhofe added that he believes America\u0092s airlift capacity is in \u0093dire straits,\u0094 and that it is a travesty America\u0092s airmen are still flying old C-130E models, despite persistent engine troubles.<\/p>\n

Congress has so far resisted this Administration\u0092s and previous attempts to terminate the C-17 program, arguing rightly that it is a vital platform with much-needed capabilities relevant to both today\u0092s battlefields and humanitarian crisis response operations. *The aircraft is designed to deliver heavy cargo onto short and or semi-prepared runways.* This unique capability is crucial to current humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, where airports have been severely damaged by the recent earthquake.* The lift capabilities of this aircraft have also added value in Afghanistan, which lacks sophisticated infrastructure.<\/p>\n

In Haiti, the Air Force has chosen, in the words of Senator McCaskill, to fly \u0093the reliable, easy-to-land on short runways, load-\u0092em-up, get-\u0092em-out, cheaper-to-fly C-17\u0094 rather than the older C-5 plane.* Since the earthquake, over 40 C-17s have flown airport equipment, communications infrastructure, and humanitarian relief to the country. *It was the Air Force\u0092s platform of choice in an environment with overcrowded and damaged runways where tactical as well as strategic capabilities were required. *Terminating the country\u0092s only remaining wide-bodied cargo aircraft production line that supplies the carrier the Air Force trusts most in hazardous environments is imprudent and unwise.<\/p>\n

Secretary Gates stated during the same hearing that of 204,000 landings for strategic lift since 1997, only 4 percent have been at airfields that a C-5 could not access, and half of those were in Iraq. *Four percent may sound low, but it equates to over 8,000 landings that required the C-17 aircraft, or over 4,000 in Iraq alone. Senator McCaskill cautioned in response that just as many airstrips in Iraq were more suitable for landing the C-17. *The escalating situation in Afghanistan\u0097which has even less developed infrastructure than Iraq does\u0097may similarly be more suitable for C-17 landings, and the Air Force should be adequately resourced to respond to the nation\u0092s demands with ease.<\/p>\n

Secretary Gates acknowledged that the time is approaching to retire the oldest C-5s. *If given the opportunity by Congress, the Pentagon will eagerly do so. *But without the ability to purchase more C-17 aircraft, the Air Force may face a dilemma: an increasing need for strategic airlift capabilities in precarious and constraining environments, and a decreasing number of ways to meet ongoing requirements.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/02\/17\/…-c-17-program\/<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 02.17.10 01:00 PM posted by Matt Mayer On February 2nd, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress that the military needs no additional C-17 aircraft and that the production line should be shut down in 2011.* His testimony drew bipartisan criticism from several senators, including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).* […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}