Air Force Under Pressure as Airlift Capacity Falls
Air Force Under Pressure as Airlift Capacity Falls (UPDATED)
6/3/2022
By Jan Tegler
The Air Force’s fleet of airlifters — roughly half the size it was during the 1990s — has been operating at high tempo for two decades, wearing out airplanes with no near-term prospect of replacement and further cuts to the force planned, despite projected demand for airlift that will operate in increasingly contested environments.
It’s a problem Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, highlighted in statements before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 29. The Air Force’s largest airlift fleet, the C-130 force, has experienced the greatest change “of all mobility priorities” over recent decades, losing almost 50 percent of its capacity “from a high of well over 500 aircraft in Operation Desert Storm to the current programmed levels,” she testified.
Currently, the Air Force has 279 C-130s. The shift away from a “two major war sizing construct” and a de-emphasis on other high priority global missions drove reductions, Van Ovost said.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/6/3/air-force-under-pressure-as-airlift-capacity-falls
