$17 Billion Cut... But Trillions More Spent Elsewhere

The Obama Administration, in the process of spending trillions of dollars for all manner of programs and projects, is trumpeted the 17 Billion dollars it is trying to cut from the Federal Budget.

Rather than try to digest them all en masse, we'll look at each of them one at a time and allow you to make up YOUR mind as to the rationale and wisdom for the decisions included below. Herewith;  another of the programs on the chopping block that has an aviation or aerospace connotation.

From the 'Terminations, Reductions, and Savings' document published this week by the OMB, as part of the FY 2010 US Budget:

Proposal: The Administration proposes to terminate production of the C-17 airlift aircraft and fund an orderly shutdown of the production line because the number of C-17s now ordered will be sufficient to meet the Department of Defense's (DOD's) airlift needs. The C-17 is designed to carry heavy military cargoes over long distances.

Justification: A total of 205 C-17s have been ordered with budgetary resources provided prior to 2009. The Congress authorized six aircraft in 2009 but provided no funding. Continuing C-17 production would cost about $3 billion per year in 2010 and subsequent years. The Government Accountability Office has urged a careful balancing of costs and requirements in determining how DOD should meet its  airlift needs, and DOD has conducted such assessments.1 For example, in the Quadrennial Defense Review in 2006, and in other internal reviews, DOD examined the strategic implications of various airlift force levels.2 DOD concluded that for long-range airlift 205 C-17s, together with the existing fleet of C-5 aircraft, would be sufficient to meet DOD's mobility needs, even under the most stressing scenarios. Thus, no more C-17s need be ordered, and production will cease when the 205th aircraft has been produced. The 2010 request includes $91 million for an orderly shutdown of the production line.

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf