The Air Force will inactivate two C-17 squadrons over the next two years in a budget-saving move, according to new details released by Air Mobility Command Monday.
the 17th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, and the 10th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, over the next two years, according to new details released by Air Mobility Command Monday.
Sixteen C-17 Globemasters — eight from the 17th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, and eight from the 10th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington — will transition from primary inventory to backup inventory, saving the Air Force about $110 million a year, an AMC news release said. That means the planes will no longer receive funding for personnel and flying hours but will continue to get necessary resources to support weapon system sustainment.
Eventually, however, the Air Force plans to transfer the aircraft to the reserve component.
The inactivations were first announced in March as part of budget submissions, but Monday's release provides the most details so far.
The C-17 squadron at Charleston will make the transition in fiscal 2015, followed by the McChord C-17 squadron in fiscal 2016.
"In this fiscally constrained environment, we have to balance readiness, capability and capacity," Major Gen. Michael Stough, director of AMC strategic plans, requirements and programs, said in the release.
"To best preserve this capability, the intent is to fund these aircraft back into primary mission aircraft inventory in future years, and transfer them to the Reserve Component — we're working with our Air National Guard partners to do that, perhaps even as early as" fiscal 2016, Stough said. "We rely on our total force partners to meet our global requirements; we couldn't do the mission without them. We'll continue to leverage the unique strengths of the active and Reserve components to meet current and future requirements with available resources."
The inactivations were first announced in March as part of budget submissions, but Monday's release provides the most details so far.
The C-17 squadron at Charleston will make the transition in fiscal 2015, followed by the McChord C-17 squadron in fiscal 2016.
The C-17, which made its debut in 1991, is considered the Air Force's workhorse in providing troop and cargo transport — often in war zones and areas affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. This summer, C-17s ferried food and supplies to Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar.
As of this May, the Air Force had 187 C-17s in its active-duty inventory, 14 in the Air Force Reserve and 12 in the Air National Guard.
