Coming Soon - The Fate of the Galaxy

[unhappycamper]

Coming Soon - The Fate of the Galaxy
Military.com | By Bryant Jordan | January 11, 2008

At long last, the fate of the oldest of the Air Force's mobility titans -- the C-5 Galaxy -- could be sealed week next when the Air Force decides whether to move ahead with a multi-billion program to re-engine the entire fleet of 111 planes.

Cost overruns on the program have pushed it into the dangerous, possibly fatal territory of a Nunn-McCurdy breach, meaning the Pentagon -- if it wants to continue the ambitious Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program -- will have to go before Congress and make the case the program is necessary for national security.

Officials have previously said that plane maker Lockheed Martin was contracted to do the work at a cost of about $83 million per plane, but that actual costs would run up to about $120 million each.

Air Force and Defense Department acquisition officials have been meeting on the issue, said Loren Thompson of The Lexington Institute in Virginia, and are supposed to certify the program for continuation by Jan. 14.

But Thompson told Military.com that it's not clear officials will meet the deadline. There is also the possibility the Air Force will use the Nunn-McCurdy breach to justify officially downsizing the scope of the program, so that only the 50 later, B-model Galaxys would be upgraded and the older, A-models retired.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159767,00.html

[RC]

1. Couldn't you buy a new plane for that amount?

"$83 million per plane, but that actual costs would run up to about $120 million each."

But that's ok, the older Galaxys will only get new tires.:P