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Aircraft Requirements: Air Force and Navy Need to Establish Realistic Criteria for Backup Aircraft

NSIAD-95-180 Published: Sep 29, 1995. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 1995.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the trend in the number of backup aircraft maintained by the Air Force and Navy, focusing on the: (1) actions that the Department of Defense (DOD) and the services have taken in response to prior recommendations to validate backup aircraft requirements; and (2) opportunities to remove unneeded backup aircraft from the force to minimize the cost of operating and maintaining combat-designated aircraft.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to develop and use supportable and consistent criteria to justify backup aircraft inventories and future procurement of backup aircraft as the Navy is doing.
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force completed the review.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to report the lack of valid backup fighter/attack aircraft requirements criteria as a material management weakness, in compliance with the Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act, until these criteria are developed and put in use.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD did not concur with this recommendation.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force and the Secretary of the Navy to adjust backup aircraft inventories, where needed, to conform to supportable and consistent criteria once established.
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force has published a revised instruction AFI 16-402, "Aerospace Vehicle Programming, Assignment, Distribution, Accounting, and Termination," which codifies Air Force policies and guidelines for Aircraft Inventory Management. Additionally, during the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), DOD conducted a thorough assessment of the total inventories planned for the F/A-18E/F, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), and the F-22. This assessment included development and application of a common attrition model for Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps aircraft inventories. Use of this model contributed to a significant reduction in the planned inventories of the F/A-18E/F, JSF and the F-22: 332, 126, and 99 aircraft respectively. The QDR program reductions using the common attrition model will accrue approximately $23 billion (FY1997 dollars) in savings over the procurement life of the three aircraft programs.

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Topics

Combat readinessFighter aircraftMilitary aircraftMilitary cost controlMilitary inventoriesMilitary procurementMilitary trainingReductions in forceAttack aircraftMilitary forces