Lockheed, Boeing on collision course over cargo planes

Seeking greater flexibility to manage its cargo fleet, Air Force leaders Wednesday asked lawmakers to repeal a provision in the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill that prohibits the military from retiring older Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy aircraft before completing a multiyear reliability testing and engine upgrade program.

Should lawmakers overturn that little-known provision, it may allow the Air Force to reconsider decisions to terminate production of Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III transport plane after the 180th aircraft rolls off production lines next year. With the law still in place, the Air Force's hands are tied; it must pay to maintain C-5s as it decides as early as this month the future of the C-17 program.

"The C-17 is a much more valuable asset than the C-5A," Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley acknowledged today during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

Congressional backing is strong for the C-17 program, which employs thousands of workers in dozens of states from Connecticut to California. Lawmakers have pushed the Air Force to buy as many as 222 C-17s, but a recent Pentagon study determined that the Air Force could adequately respond to missions with a mix of 180 C-17s and 112 C-5s.

Air Force leaders conceded Wednesday that some of the 60 C-5A airframes might be unreliable. In its annual memorandum to Congress on so-called unfunded requirements, the Air Force listed the purchase of seven more C-17s as a top priority that was left out of its fiscal 2007 budget request.

While the additional C-17s did not make the service's "A-list," they would provide the Air Force with a "hedge bet" should recurring operations wear down the current fleet, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told the panel.

But any decision to repeal the authorization provision -- sponsored by House Armed Services Committee members in 2003 -- and retire several of the Lockheed Martin planes in favor of the Boeing C-17 could pit congressional delegations against each other.

In particular, Georgia lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services member Saxby Chambliss, a Republican, could push to keep the entire C-5 fleet operating. The Galaxy is maintained at Lockheed Martin's plant in Marietta, Ga. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said he would hold a closed meeting within the next 10 days on the cargo transport issue.

On anther matter, Wynne conceded that the Air Force was facing tough budget decisions as it struggles to maintain decades-old airframes while paying for high-priced items such as the F/A-22 Raptor jet and the Joint Strike Fighter. The service, he said, is trying to jam "six pounds into a five-pound sack."

Hunter, too, said he was concerned that budget constraints would negatively affect the force. "We may be at the point where we simply have to get more money if we're going to modernize," he said.

Hunter, who has advocated major increases to the military budget, voiced particular concern about the Air Force's decision to retire 40 percent of its B-52 bomber fleet. The Air Force would be "cutting it very close" on fulfilling deep strike requirements if it moves forward with those plans, he added.