Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on issues related to Navy aircraft. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has been asked by this Committee to study the balance between the Navy's aircraft inventory and its requirements. My testimony today provides preliminary results of that analysis. Based on assumptions supplied by the Navy, and on the 5-year plan for aircraft procurement that accompanies the 1988 budget, the Navy's inventory of combat aircraft will fall short of requirements by a total of 222 planes in 1994, the earliest year when all of the planes procured in the 1988 5- year plan will have been delivered. This shortfall, which equals about 5 percent of requirements, occurs mostly because the Navy plans to buy fewer planes under this year's plan but has not significantly changed its requirements. The Navy may be able to accommodate these shortfalls, though doing so may adversely affect the fleet in peacetime and even more so in war. If the Navy decides not to accommodate the shortfalls, it would need additional funds for aircraft. The costs of buying planes to meet the shortfall of 222 combat aircraft could total more than $8 billion in today's dollars. Moreover, the shortfall of 222 combat aircraft assumes that aircraft retire at an average age of 26 years. Planning factors used by the Navy in the recent past call for retirement at an average age of 23 years; actual retirement ages for combat aircraft now being retired (F-4 fighters) average about 19 years. If aircraft were retired at 23 years, it would lead to a shortfall of about 650 aircraft in 1994.
Statement of Robert F. Hale, Assistant Director, National Security Division, Congressional Budget Office
1987
20 pages
Report
No indication
English
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