Looking ahead: future airlift; designing the next generation airlifter, a capabilities-based approach

Air Force Journal of Logistics,  Spring, 2002  by Chad T. Manske

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The next-generation aircraft must be cost-effective enough to be acquired and maintained in sufficient quantities to meet future security and military strategy requirements.

Introduction

Rapid global mobility provides the virtual spine of our global engagement philosophy. Without it, the United States would eventually degrade into a regional power. We must maintain a complete or full degree of ability to position and sustain mobility forces and capabilities through air and space, across the range of military operations as required.

Air Force Task 5, Rapid Global Mobility Air Force Doctrine Document 1-1

The changing and uncertain nature of the strategic climate for the next 30 to 50 years merits serious thinking regarding the design and acquisition of a next-generation strategic airlifter versatile enough to perform a variety of missions while having the defenses to resist the myriad of threats it may encounter. Three to 5 decades from now, when the life cycles of both the C-5 and C-17 are projected to end, there will be a gaping hole in strategic airlift capability, necessitating the development of an aircraft that can fulfill the missions they now accomplish. (1) This aircraft must be cost-effective for acquisition and maintenance in sufficient quantities to meet future security and military strategy requirements. In the near term, this implies a large buy of C-17s to handle requirements the United States cannot meet. However, there must be an aircraft with the requisite technology to meet the requirements. This article looks at the kinds of capabilities required for the development of the next-generation strategic airlifter. (2)

When considering the capabilities of the next-generation airlifter, it is important to understand current airlift aircraft capabilities enabling the evolution of new capabilities, characteristics, and features. The aircraft ultimately developed and fielded will likely have similar, yet vastly updated, features and capabilities. This article steps the reader through some of today's significant airlift aircraft capabilities and features, while discussing some of their implications for potential future use. Assumptions and limitations are given regarding the status and progress of some of Air Mobility Command's (AMC) airlift modernization efforts, as well as other improvements and enhancements affecting future development. From there, an analysis of considerations and characteristics of future technologies is presented, laying the foundation for future recommendations. Considering Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition and budgeting cycles, it is now appropriate to begin delving into these issues to position US forces for sustained progress.

Current Airlift Capabilities

The United States depends on a flexible and responsive global transportation system that can get American and allied forces to a theater in a timely and decisive manner.

Air and Space Power in the New Millennium

Current airlift aircraft capability has evolved as a function of requirements and available technology. Requirements and technology are conceived and constrained by fiscal necessities and defense priorities as determined by the DoD's defense planning systems process. This process accounts for threats to US security at home and abroad as enunciated in the President's annual National Security Strategy, which outlines how US national instruments of power-such as diplomacy, information, military forces, and economic power-are used to protect American interests worldwide. Approximately every 3 to 5 years, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff translates the National Security Strategy into a national military strategy, which then provides broad guidance on how the Armed Forces will "prepare now for an uncertain future by including a broad strategy for defending against threats to US interests." (3) Therefore, aircraft capabilities are developed in relation to requirements to counter threats to American interests.

This article provides brief descriptions of aircraft capabilities available in the Air Force airlift fleet today that have evolved over time in response to the threat environment and fiscal constraints. Capabilities are categorized as physical features, avionics and defensive systems, and specific mission functions. An understanding of these capabilities is the foundation for understanding future decisions being made regarding the characteristics of the next-generation airlifter.

Physical Features

Unique physical features provide airlifters the ability to perform their mission efficiently and will remain considerations for the next-generation airlifter unless superseded by better, more cost-effective technologies. (4)

Outsized Capacity. Among airlifters' most utilitarian features is the ability to carry outsized cargo, (5) which only the C-5 and C-17 currently have. Outsized capacity allows items--such as main battle tanks, Patriot missile batteries, large helicopters, a submarine rescue vehicle, and an Army mobile-bridge layer-- to be transported very close to their ultimate destination. However, the latter three items can be carried only on the C-5, showing a lack of versatility in the airlift fleet. (6) For example, if a major C-5 structural problem were discovered, necessitating the grounding of the fleet, how would the United States transport those specific outsized items in an emergency? It could be contracted out to foreign operators, or it could be shipped by sea. What if those foreign operators put restrictions on the use of their aircraft or in some way compromise the security of the mission? What if getting it there by sea were not fast enough? Clearly, a versatile airlifter with outsized capacity is needed in the future.