The US military has 93 fewer aerial refueling aircraft than it needs, yet avoids describing the gap as a "shortfall" in a self-published report specifically aimed at identifying capability deficits, according to a new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO report is a critique of the Mobility Capabilities Requirements Study-2016 (MCRS-16), which published an unclassified executive summary earlier this year. The study considered how the US military's mobility fleet is prepared to handle three possible scenarios. In the most challenging set-up -- fighting an air/naval campaign simultaneously with managing a homeland defense "event" and a separate capaign against insurgents -- the study called for a force of 646 tankers, but the DOD has only 553, including KC-130Js. This seems to imply a tanker shortfall.
"However," the GAO's auditors write, "DOD officials responsible for the report told us that a tanker shortfall does not exist despite the language used in the report."
The GAO report is a critique of the Mobility Capabilities Requirements Study-2016 (MCRS-16), which published an unclassified executive summary earlier this year. The study considered how the US military's mobility fleet is prepared to handle three possible scenarios. In the most challenging set-up -- fighting an air/naval campaign simultaneously with managing a homeland defense "event" and a separate capaign against insurgents -- the study called for a force of 646 tankers, but the DOD has only 553, including KC-130Js. This seems to imply a tanker shortfall.
"However," the GAO's auditors write, "DOD officials responsible for the report told us that a tanker shortfall does not exist despite the language used in the report."
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