Leaking KC-46 Fuel Lines Are Latest Serious Boeing Tanker Fault

Leaking KC-46 Fuel Lines Are Latest Serious Boeing Tanker Fault
Leaking KC-46 Fuel Lines Are Latest Serious Boeing Tanker Fault

The Air Force provided few details about the latest problem bedeviling the airborne tanker in its terse statement last night, saying only that it had “upgraded an existing deficiency of its KC-46 Pegasus fuel system to Category I.”

TRANSCOM Wants To Keep 23 Tankers DoD Cut In 2021

TRANSCOM Wants To Keep 23 Tankers DoD Cut In 2021
TRANSCOM Wants To Keep 23 Tankers DoD Cut In 2021

Retiring the KC-135s and KC-10s before the new KC-46 tanker comes on line will have “significant impacts” on TRANSCOM’s ability to fulfill its wartime mission, says Gen. Stephen Lyons.

TRANSCOM Chief: No More KC-135s Now Planned

TRANSCOM Chief: No More KC-135s Now Planned
TRANSCOM Chief: No More KC-135s Now Planned

Gen. Stephen Lyons, the Army general heading up TRANSCOM, says there is no ongoing work for a space plane to carry supplies.

DoD AUDIT: Air Force Finds Mystery Motors, Other Highlights

DoD AUDIT: Air Force Finds Mystery Motors, Other Highlights
DoD AUDIT: Air Force Finds Mystery Motors, Other Highlights

After waiting almost three decades to audit itself, the Pentagon still failed miserably in its first attempt. Despite top officials brushing the failure off an an expected learning experience, real questions remain over whether it can fix itself.

How Air Force Tankers, Transports Can Survive In High-Tech War

How Air Force Tankers, Transports Can Survive In High-Tech War
How Air Force Tankers, Transports Can Survive In High-Tech War

“We’re looking at airframes of the future that will have common cockpits, advanced propulsion systems, (and) signature management,” Miller said. The goal “really is understanding (how) to modify or build an airplane that allows us to operate through that threat environment.”

GAO Decision Threatens US Military Dominance; Reject It

GAO Decision Threatens US Military Dominance; Reject It
GAO Decision Threatens US Military Dominance; Reject It

Bill Greenwalt is sort of the Pied Piper of military acquisition policy. Where he leads, others often follow. After he wrote a series of op-eds for Breaking Defense recommending major changes to the Pentagon’s acquisition system, Sen. John McCain lured Bill back to his old job at the Senate Armed Services Committee. Greenwalt rewrote the laws, shaking up Defense Department acquisition. Bill is back, pointing to new acquisition problems, this latest one with his former employer — the Government Accountability Office. It’s a doozy, as you’ll see.

US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down

US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down
US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down

AFA: The Air Force needs more tankers and transports because a sophisticated enemy like Russia or China can shoot them down, the chief of Air Mobility Command said here. The current fleet size is based on war plans that only considered how much fuel, supplies, equipment, and troops the air fleet needed to move from…

KC-46 Faces 3 Category One Deficiencies; Two Affect Boom

KC-46 Faces 3 Category One Deficiencies; Two Affect Boom
KC-46 Faces 3 Category One Deficiencies; Two Affect Boom

AFA: The four-star chief of Air Mobility Command wants his new KC-46 Pegasus tankers “yesterday,” but the tanker’s boom has a nasty tendency to scrape up planes it’s trying to refuel, as well as two other category one deficiencies, and contractor Boeing has to fix those. The paint scraping problem — formally known as “undetected…

Not Enough C-17s, Tankers Or Ships For Hot War: TRANSCOM

Not Enough C-17s, Tankers Or Ships For Hot War: TRANSCOM
Not Enough C-17s, Tankers Or Ships For Hot War: TRANSCOM

WASHINGTON: Believe it or not, the global command responsible for getting weapons, fuel, and food to troops had, until recently, never used a war game for planning. Nor did Transportation Command factor into its plans the possibility that transport ships would be sunk and transport planes would be shot down . On top of that, TRANSCOM…

Over Where? Army Struggles To Relearn Rapid Deployment

Over Where? Army Struggles To Relearn Rapid Deployment
Over Where? Army Struggles To Relearn Rapid Deployment

HUNTSVILLE, ALA: This morning, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley warned Congress that “I have grave concerns” about the Army’s ability to respond to a major war — say, with Russia, Gen. Milley’s no. 1 threat — “in a timely manner.” Here in Huntsville, generals and executives explained a big part of the reason why.…

TransCom Rushes Buy Of Ebola Isolation Units; 60 Days From Idea To Test

TransCom Rushes Buy Of Ebola Isolation Units; 60 Days From Idea To Test
TransCom Rushes Buy Of Ebola Isolation Units; 60 Days From Idea To Test

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon’s Transportation Command — the folks who move most everything for the military from Point A to Point B — are testing a new isolation unit to fit in a C-17 or C-130 aircraft, just 60 days after issuing the requirement. The head of TransCom, Gen. Paul Selva, told reporters this morning at a…

TRANSCOM Pegged As Prime Target For Cyberattacks

CAPITOL HILL: The top military command responsible for moving American troops and equipment across the globe has become a prime target of persistent cyberattacks in recent months, the command’s chief told Congress today. Attempted network breaches at Transportation Command have gone up by 30 percent compared to last year, according to Gen. William Frasier. This…