First, Senator Hillary Clinton sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Bob Gates a while ago pleading for more C-17s to allow the New York Air National Guard to dump their aging C-5As.
Now, Maj Gen Robert Knauff, commander of the New York ANG, is telling local reporters that the C-5A must be replaced. (Hat tip: AFA Daily Report.)
Now, Maj Gen Robert Knauff, commander of the New York ANG, is telling local reporters that the C-5A must be replaced. (Hat tip: AFA Daily Report.)
"These airplanes were built 40 years ago and any piece of metal that is bent for 40 years eventually is going to break, and more and more, the more we fly these airplanes, the more problems they have. It's not fatal. It's not a horrible flaw but it gets more and more expensive; it gets more difficult and more and more, we are spending resources on old things rather than spend them on new things," he said. "So, the question comes, do we spend that money to keep the old C-5s flying or do we spend that money to get the new airplanes here? My vote is always with the new airplane and the new mission. If I have anything to do with it, we'll be seeing new airplanes at Stewart."Standing in the way of any C-5A replacement is the formidable opposition of Senator Ted Kennedy, the great protector of Westover Air Reserve Base, which could be shut down if the C-5A is allowed to retire. A few years ago, Kennedy teamed up with new Vice President-elect Joe Biden to make it illegal for the US Air Force to retire any C-5As, and that's not likely to change.
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