Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
March 1, 2007
Pentagon planners will re-examine whether the Defense Department needs more C-17 cargo aircraft, rather than shutting down the production line, due to President Bush's call to grow the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told leading Senate defense appropriators Feb. 28.
"We will take a look at it based on the increased size of the force," England said.
England also said two unidentified NATO allies have stalled negotiations toward a joint purchase of four C-17s. Talks so far have resulted in agreement for just 3.5 airlifters, including one full C-17 to which the United States has committed to funding.
"I do have a level of confidence," England said in response to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. "We believe that we have a way ahead" on the NATO C-17s, he added, citing apparent talks on the issue earlier this week.
The DOD asked for $111 million for the alliance's C-17s. Testifying alongside England, Navy Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said that a couple of non-NATO countries have expressed interest in C-17s. Sweden, for example, wants to "buy [flight] hours" under the purchasing consortium, according to the admiral.
Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the former top Senate defense appropriator and now the subcommittee's ranking Republican, reminded England and Giambastiani that it was he and Inouye who led the congressional reversal last year against the Pentagon's plan to halt C-17 acquisition. Stevens said with the planned end strength increase and another 60,000 overseas-based U.S. forces slated to return to the United States from Cold War positions, the DOD's strategy increasingly seems to depend on airlifters.
"The whole concept of our policy is rapid deployment by air," Stevens said.
England replied that at some point, C-17 acquisition has to be stopped to apply those funds to more modern equipment and competing priorities -- although the deputy secretary acknowledged that officials have no plans for a C-17 successor. With Congress last year calling for 10 more C-17s on top of the Pentagon's stated requirement of 183, as well as a program to upgrade the C-5 transport, the DOD has a "more than adequate" number of transporters, he maintained.
-- Michael Bruno
March 1, 2007
Pentagon planners will re-examine whether the Defense Department needs more C-17 cargo aircraft, rather than shutting down the production line, due to President Bush's call to grow the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told leading Senate defense appropriators Feb. 28.
"We will take a look at it based on the increased size of the force," England said.
England also said two unidentified NATO allies have stalled negotiations toward a joint purchase of four C-17s. Talks so far have resulted in agreement for just 3.5 airlifters, including one full C-17 to which the United States has committed to funding.
"I do have a level of confidence," England said in response to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. "We believe that we have a way ahead" on the NATO C-17s, he added, citing apparent talks on the issue earlier this week.
The DOD asked for $111 million for the alliance's C-17s. Testifying alongside England, Navy Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said that a couple of non-NATO countries have expressed interest in C-17s. Sweden, for example, wants to "buy [flight] hours" under the purchasing consortium, according to the admiral.
Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the former top Senate defense appropriator and now the subcommittee's ranking Republican, reminded England and Giambastiani that it was he and Inouye who led the congressional reversal last year against the Pentagon's plan to halt C-17 acquisition. Stevens said with the planned end strength increase and another 60,000 overseas-based U.S. forces slated to return to the United States from Cold War positions, the DOD's strategy increasingly seems to depend on airlifters.
"The whole concept of our policy is rapid deployment by air," Stevens said.
England replied that at some point, C-17 acquisition has to be stopped to apply those funds to more modern equipment and competing priorities -- although the deputy secretary acknowledged that officials have no plans for a C-17 successor. With Congress last year calling for 10 more C-17s on top of the Pentagon's stated requirement of 183, as well as a program to upgrade the C-5 transport, the DOD has a "more than adequate" number of transporters, he maintained.
-- Michael Bruno