The Air Force Magazine editorial for January is something we need to heed, and soon.
The Air Force's planes are getting old. The KC-135s are over 45 years old. Most of their air crews are younger than that. The F-15s are also old. The average age of an Air Force plane is climbing.
Two planes need urgent replacement: The KC-135s, and the C-130Es. The former could have been replaced by KC-767s long ago, but Congressional objections killed that. The latter is being replaced all-too-slowly by the new C-130J.
Congress needs to get to work. Fast. We got sidetracked earlier this decade due to the 9/11 attacks. That stuff happens. But the peace dividend is now going to cost us a lot of money to set things right. It may have already cost our military lives.
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The former could have been replaced by KC-767s long ago, but Congressional objections killed that.
The KC-767 was one of the biggest ripoffs ever attempted by a defense contractor (if not THE biggest). Essentially, the US government would have, under the pretense of "leasing" the tankers, paid the full purchase price on two separate occasions (the second time, they would be paying new tanker costs for used airframes that would be in essentially unsalable condition), plus paid lease costs over the life of the contract.
The Air Force is pricing itself out of business--and that is due to their acquisition policies. They need to go back through their current and proposed acquisition programs and ruthlessly slash away at costs.
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