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March 26, 2004

Military Brass Defends Joint Strike Fighter

Navy, Marine Leaders Urge No Delay In JSF Program

Time is money, especially when working on a high-priced government contract. Just ask the Navy and Marine Corps, who are warning Congress that every year of delay adds $1 billion to the cost of the Joint Strike Fighter program. Military leaders pleaded with lawmakers not to impose further delays on the aircraft's development. Navy Secretary Gordon England, Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations, and Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, made their case during a hearing of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

A Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft on a routine training mission crashed at about 12:30 p.m. EST March 24 off the coast of South Carolina. The pilot was rescued uninjured and taken to a hospital at Hunter Army Air Field near Savannah, Ga., for observation. The aicraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 82 based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C. Known as the "Marauders," the squadron returned Feb. 25 from a six-month deployment as part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

C-5 Maintenance Crews Learn To Be Creative

C-5 Galaxy mechanics here recently found that making new aircraft floorboards rather than repairing used ones saves nearly $5.5 million per year and reduces work-flow days from 42 to nine. When a C-5 floorboard team started rethinking their work process, 923 floorboards were on backorder, and C-5s were being held up in the depot because of it. The crew discovered a way to create their own parts, thus saving time and money.