Precious Sortie: The United States Air Force at the Intersection of Rising Energy Prices, an Aging Fleet, a Struggling Recapitalization Effort, and Stressed Defense Budgets

摘要

Easing the burden on the fleet in the execution of the day-to-day mission via increased simulation, a different approach to the flying hour program, and a more focused maintenance quality assurance program can go a long way towards mitigating the effects of increasing energy prices, an aging fleet, a struggling recapitalization effort, and a stressed defense budget. Today's Air Force is faced with rising energy prices, the oldest fleet in the country's history, a recapitalization effort that is, at best, stuck in neutral, and defense budgets greatly strained by two wars and a historic economic downturn. There could not be a worse time to be attempting to secure the sizeable resources required to revitalize an aging fleet of aircraft. However, this is exactly the position the Air Force finds itself in. There are no quick and easy solutions in the offing. Because of that, service leaders need to buy time with the fleet they have. Wing-level leaders can buy the service time they need by finding innovative ways to reduce the stress on the fleet in the execution of daily flying. As sorties become tougher to generate with an older fleet, wings must focus on reducing sortie quantity and boosting sortie quality -- treating every sortie as 'precious' drives behavior that is beneficial to a smaller, older fleet. The author sets forth three recommendations. First, increased simulation will drive down demand for sorties while increasing sortie effectiveness. Second, a new approach to the wing's flying hour program (FHP) will reduce unnecessary sorties by focusing on flying as a means to an end, not an end unto itself. Third, a recalibrated maintenance quality assurance effort will focus scarce personnel resources on the actions that directly affect sortie quality. The realization that sorties are no longer 'cheap' is critical for the Air Force, as the energy to fly sorties will grow more expensive while the cost to maintain an aging fleet will continue its unabated rise.