United States military aircraft in a sliding scale downwards
On 19 November 2020, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report about mission capable goals from selected USAF and US Navy/US Marines aircraft. It was stated in the extensive audit report that the USAF and USN/USMC fixed-wing aircraft share a variety of common sustainment challenges, including the age of their aircraft as well as maintenance and supply support issues.
Overall, the aircraft mission capable rate goals generally did not meet the expected operational serviceability targets between the fiscal years 2011-2019. Also, the costs of sustaining selected fixed wing aircraft and helicopters within the US DoD's inventory varied widely.
The reason that the GAO carried out this audit is that the US Department of Defence (US DoD) spends billions of dollars annually to sustain its weapon systems to support current and future operations. Especially, the USAF and USN/USMC are operating many of their fixed-wing aircraft well beyond their original designed service lives and therefore are confronted with sustainment challenges.
The GAO looked at the status and operational readiness of the military aircraft fleet and examined its mission capable rate measuring the percentage of the total time an aircraft can fly. In total GAO examined 46 types of aircraft and helicopters and if they met their annual mission capable goals for FYs 2011-2019.
Strikingly, GAO found out that three types met their goals in a majority of the years and 24 types did not meet their goals in any year. The EP-3E Aries II and E-6B Mercury were the US Navy types that scored reasonably. For the USAF, the F-15E Strike Eagle almost met the expected operational serviceability goals. The most striking score is for the USAF's UH-1N, which have been in service from 1968/1969, and will be replaced soon by the MH-139A Grey Wolf. The Twin Huey managed a nine out of nine score.
The GAO also reviewed the annual Operating and support (O&S) for these aircraft, such as maintenance costs. These costs totaled over USD 49 billion in FY 2018, ranging from a low USD 118 million for the Navy's KC-130T Hercules to a high USD 4.2 billion for the USAF's KC-135R/T Stratotanker. The trends in O&S costs varied by aircraft from fiscal year 2011 to 2018. For example, total O&S costs for the US Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet increased by USD 1.13 billion, due in part to extensive maintenance needs.
Strangely, GAO stated that in contrast, USAF's F-15C/D Eagle costs decreased by USD 490 million, due in part to a reduction in the size of the fleet. Scramble Magazine is aware that during the past years only nine surplus F-15Ds have been delivered to the Israel Defence Forces. No other F-15C/D Eagles have been taken out of service.
Photo: USAF / Graphic: United States Government Accountability Office (USGAO)