Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne left no doubt that he wants to buy more C-17s, but the Congressional restriction on retiring any C-5s is holding the Air Force hostage. He told Senate appropriators last week, “It bothers me greatly to see the C-17 line closed.” Wynne explained that the service has “between 20 and 30 [C-5 airlifters] that may be good candidates for standing down,” instead USAF has been forced into “husbanding the C-5s” with service-life extensions. The Congressional restriction on retiring any of the now 111 C-5s “has made almost certain that we will not get the [C-17] line extension that we’re looking for over the long term.” He said the fact that the nation’s “strategic lift line may go quiet” adds to “our burden of strategic risk.”
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.