Commander Addresses Needed Upgrades

[unhappycamper]

Commander Addresses Needed Upgrades
Air Force Print News | September 27, 2007


WASHINGTON -- The commander of Air Mobility Command briefed attendees from across the globe Sept. 26 on the command's past, present and future contributions to the nation's defense during the Air Force Association's Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition here.

"It takes bravery and courage to do our mission today," Gen. Arthur Lichte said. "We put tankers over hostile territory. We go in and save people's lives with aeromedical evacuation. We deliver cargo. We do air drop, and we're always in harm's way... and we're doing it around the clock."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, AMC has transfered 1.1 billion gallons of fuel during air refueling operations. To get an idea of how much this is, imagine watching Niagra Falls, in the summertime, for 25 minutes, he said.

~snip~

We have a lot of problems with the C-130 (Hercules)," General Lichte said. They need to be modernized, or AMC needs to move on to another aircraft.

"We've got a lot of sustainment issues with the C-5 (Galaxy)," said General Lichte, and the KC-135s are about 50 years old and need to be modernized as well.

Looking forward, the addition of the KC-X is one of the Air Force's top priorities, the general said. If everything goes smoothly, the first delivery of this aircraft will be 2011, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,150703,00.html