The current US economic crisis brings a national impetus to reduce government deficit spending, an undertaking of great importance; indeed, both the legislative and executive branches have taken immediate action in fiscal year (FY) 2011. This fixation on fiscal responsibility will surely include the previously sacrosanct defense budget, which set record highs and nearly doubled with wartime supplemental defense spending since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2011. With the Department of Defense s (DOD) fixed costs at an all-time high and recapitalization requirements in every direction, the challenge to win two wars and reset for the next contingency in a fiscally constrained environment demands innovative leadership at every level. The top recapitalization priority for the US Air Force is replacing the 50-year-old KC-135 tanker fleet, a force multiplier critical to US military power projection. Aerial refueling represents a single point of failure for any rapid global mission, a capability critical to the DOD s joint force. The latter depends on the tanker to enable global reach and rapid global response, essential tenets of the US national security strategy. Unfortunately, the existing road map for recapitalizing the aging KC-135 fleet is untenable, and senior leaders have estimated that the last aircraft will not be replaced until it is more than 100 years old. From a pure time perspective, this would be analogous to flying the Wright Flyer in combat today. Given the pressures from budget constraints and the national deficit reduction, the DOD must seek alternatives for expediting recapitalization.


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    Titel :

    Fiscally Sound Options for a Flawed Tanker Recapitalization Strategy


    Beteiligte:
    M. W. Grismer (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2011


    Format / Umfang :

    13 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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