DefenseAlert Intra-Theater Airlift Working Group To Decide Basing For 32 Cargo Planes Posted on InsideDefense.com: January 3, 2013 The Air Force has established an Intra-Theater Airlift working group to decide how to divvy up the 32 cargo aircraft lawmakers have mandated the service keep through fiscal year 2013.
Less than 24 hours after President Obama signed the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, a key member of that group, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Moeller, is meeting today with House Armed Services Committee staffers to discuss how the working group plans to come up with a basing strategy for those aircraft, according to an Air Force official and a congressional source. Moeller is the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and programs.
Obama signed the NDAA while on vacation in Hawaii. The signing was announced Thursday by the White House press office just after midnight Eastern Standard Time.
Rumors that the group had already been established have trickled out of Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over the past week. Air Force officials initially declined to discuss the development, citing the fact that the NDAA had yet to be signed. But on Thursday, following the White House announcement, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek confirmed to Inside the Air Force that senior service officials were preparing to address the congressional mandate.
“The Air Force will convene an Intra-Theater Airlift Working Group to determine how best to comply with the FY-13 NDAA language directing the restoral of additional intra-theater aircraft to the Air Force inventory,” she said in a Jan. 3 email. “The IAWG will be a Total Force endeavor comprised of members from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Air Mobility Command and Headquarters Air Force. The working group will provide recommendations to [Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, SECAF] by the end of January. Announcement of the SECAF’s decision on intra-theater airlift restorals will occur sometime after that date.”
In its FY-13 NDAA, Congress instructed the service to maintain a mix of 32 C-27J and C-130 cargo aircraft to meet the Army’s fixed-wing, direct support, time-sensitive airlift mission requirements. In response to the new requirement, the Air Force convened a group of senior officers who must abide by the Air Force Strategic Basing Structure, which obligates them to take a cross-functional consideration of Air Force strategic basing decisions before committing to a particular outcome, a Pentagon source told ITAF on Wednesday.
Air Force officials have felt strong push-back from legislators against their attempt to shave down the size of the force structure. Dismay and distrust among members of Congress was evident soon after the service, in its original FY-13 budget request, recommended trimming the force structure by 287 aircraft. In response to the negative congressional response, the Air Force released a last-minute revised plan that decreased its aircraft inventory by only 244 planes. Still, Congress asked for more.
Now, per the NDAA, the service must find the right balance for adding those 32 cargo aircraft to the slimmed down force structure. That is where the working group comes in, according to the Pentagon source.
The group will take a “subjective look” at what basing strategy is in the best interest of the service and follow the standard procedure for all basing requests on Air Force property, the source said. That process, though fair, will likely prove difficult because certain lawmakers are still intent on holding onto the aircraft stationed at the bases in their backyard, the source added.
“Everybody you’re going to cut from is going to tell you, ‘No,’ and give you a good reason for why,” the source said.
Some of the states that stand to lose their cargo aircraft in FY-13 or FY-14 as part of the new force structure strategy are Alaska, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the service’s revised proposal. ITAF obtained a copy of the proposal in early December. Lawmakers for those states are already lining up to speak to those tasked with making basing recommendations.
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) announced in a Dec. 28 statement that he, too, has organized a meeting between Pennsylvania lawmakers and Moeller which will be geared toward discussing the advantages of keeping a squadron of seven C-130s at Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station (IAP ARS), PA, home of the 911th Airlift Wing.
In late 2012, Air Force Reserve Chief Lt. Gen. James Jackson told some of those Pennsylvania lawmakers that the Air Force did not perform a comparison of operating costs at bases before making its recommendations for cuts, according to a Nov. 27 statement released by Murphy’s office. As a result, legislators are keeping a watchful eye on the decisions of the Air Force. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) has already promised his fellow congressmen that he will conduct a full review of the working group’s recommendations, according to a congressional source.
“Certainly we will exercise oversight, especially since we faulted USAF methodology with their first and second Guard proposals,” the source said. — Maggie Ybarra
From Bob Forbes—Afgan C27As grounded
KABUL — The U.S. military is scrapping the Afghan Air Force’s entire fleet of Italian-made cargo planes, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
U.S. and Afghan officials told the paper that the Afghan military isn’t expected to have an independent and fully functioning air force until around 2017, well after the withdrawal of most U.S. and international troops.
On the west end of Kabul International Airport, twin-engine C-27As sit side by side, sunlight reflecting off their gray wings and the green, black, and red of the Afghan flag emblazoned on their tails. For more than a year, though, most of the planes had been little more than expensive aviation exhibitions, unable to fly due to lack of spare parts and maintenance.
Now, despite spending nearly $600 million on the program, the U.S. is canceling the contract for the aircraft and disposing of all 16 planes delivered to the Afghan Air Force, the Journal reported.
Alenia Aermacchi North America, a unit of Italian defense conglomerate Finmeccanica SpA, failed to meet the requirements of their contract to maintain the fleet, according to an email from U.S. Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick, who was quoted in the Journal.
“This decision comes after failed attempts by the contractor to generate a sufficient number of fully mission-capable aircraft that would provide an effective airlift capability for the AAF,” Gulick said in the email.
An Alenia representative was quoted in the Journal as saying the company had not received word of the decision and that the program had recently shown improvement.
“It’s all a bit surprising that this decision is being made now when the [remediation] plan is being fully implemented,” the representative said.
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The entire fleet of C-27As was grounded in December 2011 and even recently only four to six planes have been able to operate at any one time, Afghan Air Force spokesman Col. Mohammad Bahadur said in an interview with Stars and Stripes.
“The basic problem is that these airplanes were purchased without spare parts,” Bahadur said. “For a small part, you need to wait for weeks or months.”
For the Afghan military, still struggling to operate independently, the lack of cargo aircraft has been a blow to an already shaky logistics system. The Afghan security forces have leaned heavily on their fleet of Russian helicopters and Cessna 208 planes. But those aircraft struggle to keep up with demand, especially on longer routes, such as the roughly 300-mile haul between the capital and Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second city and still a major center for fighting.
Shortages of fuel and parts are epidemic for Afghan troops, whose Humvees and pickups often lie dormant for days; many units complain of a shortage of ammunition.
The U.S. is set to deliver four C-130s, four-engine cargo planes that are the workhorses of the U.S. Air Force, to the Afghan Air Force in 2013, said Ministry of Defense spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said in an interview with Stars and Stripes.
“A military that doesn’t have a plane is like a man without legs,” Azimi said.
Too bad… the C27J (with Rads) could be a great Tanker…
Not going to happen soon.
Jerome
U.S. Backs Out Of Another Deal With Finmeccanica
By Amy Butler, Tony Osborne
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology
January 14, 2013
The U.S. Air Force is halting funding for Alenia to operate the G222 fleet in Afghanistan and train pilots there on the tactical transport.tony osborne/aw&ST
Amy Butler Washington and Tony Osborne London
The last few years have been tough for European defense manufacturers that planned a decade ago to boost their presence and, if possible, establish manufacturing sites in the U.S.
The past year has been a bitter pill particularly for Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, which owns Alenia Aeronautica. The top two programs cited by the company’s North American branch—both centered on a tactical cargo airlifter—have now fizzled in the U.S. market. A recent decision by the U.S. Air Force to end work on a training and support contract for the Afghan Air Force’s refurbished G222 transports was a major blow last month, right on the heels of its decision last winter to end buys of a new version of the aircraft, called the C-27J.
The company was already disillusioned with its Pentagon experience after the abrupt 2009 cancellation by the Navy of the next-generation U.S. presidential helicopter program, for which Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland helicopter unit was teamed with Lockheed Martin.
Despite these setbacks, Finmeccanica officials say they do not plan to cut back their U.S. operations. “Finmeccanica’s presence in the United States dates back more than a century and our commitment to this country extends long-term. We remain highly optimistic about our future prospects in the largest defense and security market in the world,” says a statement provided by Finmeccanica North America spokeswoman Angelica Falchi. “We are currently in pursuit of both near- and long-term programs with the U.S. government.”
Potential opportunities include a forthcoming competition to replace the aging Air Force T-38 fast jet trainer fleet with about 350 new airframes as well as an Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior follow-on.
Finmeccanica North America’s 2008 acquisition of DRS Technologies, primarily known for providing electronic systems to the Pentagon, is expected to be a major growth area. The company’s North America operation is in the midst of a restructuring designed, in part, to adjust to U.S. market realities. Headquarters in Rome has also undergone a restructuring, including consolidations aimed at operating efficiencies.
The G222’s demise is not only a bad mark for Alenia; it is the latest in a string of failures by the Pentagon to efficiently field aviation assets for Afghanistan as the White House 3 presses ahead with plans to pull forces out in 2014.
The U.S. Air Force is halting funding for Alenia to operate the G222 fleet in Afghanistan and train pilots there on the tactical transport.
The Army botched its plans to sole-source and field Mi-17s there. And the Air Force has yet to make good on a promise to field a light attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft for Afghanistan after a contractor protest waylaid its source selection process.
Meanwhile, Finmeccanica’s hopes of establishing a stateside final assembly footprint in the near term are dashed. And it is nearly impossible for the company to meet its internal growth plans in the U.S. without these major contracts.
Unlike the C-27J program, which was outright terminated, the Air Force opted simply not to renew its contract with Alenia North America to support and induct the G222s, dubbed the C-27A by the service, into the Afghan Air Force.
The final decision was relayed by the Air Force in a Dec. 18 letter following two earlier warnings of dissatisfaction with Alenia’s work.
The G222 program was Alenia’s first as a prime contractor for the Pentagon. The Air Force paid Alenia $341 million to refurbish 20 aircraft—bringing five configurations of the G222 into a single C-27A variant—for the Afghan Air Force. USAF officials praised Alenia’s performance, despite some early refurbishments requiring 50% more hours than planned, for which the company picked up the tab.
But major issues surfaced as Alenia moved forward in executing a second deal worth more than $600 million to train Afghan pilots and crews and support the fleet in Afghanistan.
The decision comes after what Air Force officials call “failed attempts” by Alenia to “generate a sufficient number of fully mission-capable aircraft for effective [Afghan] airlift capability.” According to Ed Gulick, a USAF spokesman, “though the Air Force assisted Alenia throughout the program in an effort to help the program succeed, Alenia struggled to consistently achieve key contractual requirements.”
An industry official says Alenia is exploring whether it has any recourse to the decision. As this is not a contract termination, there is little opportunity for significant termination liability costs to be reimbursed. And without a major U.S. prime contractor involved, the company does not have significant weight in Congress to seek political help outside the Pentagon.
Sixteen of the 20 aircraft have been delivered to Afghanistan—though not all are flyable. Four remain in Italy. Despite a deployed team of contractors, and a decision by Alenia to bring in DynCorp last March to help rectify the problems, the fleet has been temperamental and was grounded twice, once in December 2011 on airworthiness grounds and again last March because of safety issues that delayed the training of Afghan personnel.
While acknowledging problems with the aircraft’s introduction, a company official says the fleet is now exceeding the requirements set by the U.S. Air Force. The industry official says Alenia was sent notices warning it of contract deficiencies but never received Air Force feedback on its responses. Alenia funded some contract activities, although terms were not fully ironed out.
The U.S. Air Force is halting funding for Alenia to operate the G222 fleet in Afghanistan and train pilots there on the tactical transport.
“Conservatively, we spent around $20 million of our own money sourcing new parts for these aircraft. That was spent in good faith to retain the contract,” the industry official says. Alenia sourced parts from G222s stored in Argentina to keep the Afghan fleet going and brought in DynCorp for engineering and training and General Dynamics for translation services. Engineers were limited by the number of available hangar slots as they worked on the aircraft, the industry source notes.
Air Force officials acknowledge that 10 aircraft are now flying, and the industry official points out that this exceeds the six required.
Around $600 million has now been spent on the program, and the industry official believes that spending another $60 million would ensure the type’s continued operation. This would cost less than introducing a new type such as the C-130, into the fleet, according to the industry official, who says such a move would require the retraining of personnel on a more complex system.
Air Force officials note that they will provide some C-130 support to help close the gap left without the G222s. Also, 26 Air Force-procured Cessna 208s and the Mi-17s bought by the Army are providing airlift in Afghanistan.
In a statement, an Alenia spokesman says the company remains committed to the success of the G222 program and the U.S. Air Force as it stands up a trained and capable Afghan Air Force. “Our team works tirelessly to support the program, meet our commitments and swiftly address any concern, big or small, even those connected to other parties,” the company says.
The NATO Training Mission and the USAF will suspend C-27A flight operations in Afghanistan in the coming weeks, but no decision has been made on the final disposition of the aircraft and the associated support equipment and spare parts.
Gulick says, “Air Force leadership continues to recognize and support Afghanistan’s need for a sustained medium-airlift capability to meet current and future Afghan national security requirements. U.S. and Afghan Air Force leadership are engaged in talks . . . on the next steps.”