USAF to decommission two C-17 squadrons

The US Air Force’s (USAF) Air Mobility Command is set to decommission two of the C-17 Globemaster III squadrons in the next two years, with one from Joint Base Charleston and the other at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The latest move, based on the US government’s Defense Budget for fiscal year 2015, is aimed at making changes over the next few years to the active duty, Reserve, and Guard elements for a successful transition to a leaner force that stays ready for future missions.

USAF AMC Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs director major general Michael Stough said: "In this fiscally constrained environment, we have to balance readiness, capability and capacity.

"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 – and we’re working with our Air National Guard partners to do that, perhaps even as early as FY16.

"We rely on our total force partners to meet our global mobility 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 US President’s fiscal year 2015 Budget is aimed at transforming 16 AMC C-17s (eight from each base) from primary mission aircraft to backup aircraft inventory.

The move would lead to decommissioning of the 17th Airlift Squadron at Charleston next year, followed by the 10th Airlift Squadron at McChord, the following year.

Allocated with no manpower or flying hours, the backup aircraft inventory (BAI) will receive funding required to support weapon system sustainment.

According to the USAF, the conversion of 16 aircraft to BAI eliminates funding for the personnel and flying hours for those aircraft, further savings $110m per year.