Examination of the U.S. Air Force's Aircraft Sustainment Needs in the Future and Its Strategy to Meet Those Needs (2011) / Chapter Skim
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When other expenditures, such as selected personnel accounts, fuel, facilities, and utilities are included, the total dollar amount expended is significantly higher.2 As a point of reference for the reader, the Air Force total costs of sustainment activities exceed the operating costs of such industry giants as American Airlines and Delta Airlines.3 As demonstrated by the following comment by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, sustainment is a major component of the Department of Defense (DoD) budget: About $100 billion is procurement of weapons systems -- OK, acquisition -- but remember that 70 percent of the cost of a weapons system is not acquiring it; it is sustaining it.
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This study highlights many sustainment issues and offers recommendations aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Air Force weapon system sus tainment enterprise. The Air Force weapon system sustainment enterprise consists of a highly skilled workforce but operates without modern enterprise resource planning tools and with a supply chain that is not structured according to business best practices.
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At present, this process is largely facilitated by interpersonal relationships rather than clear, concise lines of authority and modern enterprise reporting and planning tools, which results in escalating costs and inefficiencies. The Air Force's sustainment activities achieve the desired operational outcomes.
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40% Nominal Growth 3.0% Real Growth 1.0% $750 708 693 35% WWII (1945) 667 667 666 34.5% 33 648 632 616 50 601 159 50 30% 50 146 50 130 187 535 479 166 25% 468 $500 7 116 437 76 91 20% 3 72 345 8 3 KOREA (195 316 11.7% 15% 17 616 598 582 13 566 549 531 513 $250 6 480 432 10% 411 400 377 365 328 297 5% 0% 0% $0 1945 1950 1955 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 Notes: Base Budget Position Non-War Supplemental OCO OCO Supplemental Base Base Budget OCO Funding *
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sUmmARy 5 Defense as a Percentage of GDP 0 – FY2015 eGrowth % of GDP GDP (TY $ in B) 40% $30,000 owth 3.0% (TY $ in B)
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• Identify and make recommendations regarding incorporating sustainability into future aircraft designs. During four data-gathering meetings, senior Air Force leaders, including rep resentatives of several Air Force Major Commands, representatives from the other military departments, senior officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, professional staff members from key congressional oversight committees, and senior industry executives provided input to the committee (see Appendix A for biographical sketches of the committee members and Appendix B for meetings and participating organizations)
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; (4) lack of a single senior Air Force commander in charge of the entire sustainment enterprise (Recommendation 2-4)
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9 Quoting, in part, 10 USC § 2474 entitled "Centers of Industrial and Technical Excellence: Des ignation: Public-Private Partnerships" and enacted November 18, 1997, by Public Law 105-58: "(1) The Secretary concerned, or the Secretary of Defense in the case of a Defense Agency, shall designate each depot-level activity of the military departments and the Defense Agencies (other than facilities approved for closure or major realignment under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101-510; 10 U.S.C.
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Assessment of Air Force Air Logistics Centers Evaluation of the ALCs considers funds allocation, workforce, skill sets, and organizational structure. The flow of funds for depot maintenance and the Air Force's flying hour programs has been adequate; however, this might change in the near future.
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The Air Force should continue its eLog 21 approach to sustainment improvement and should aggressively continue to pursue incre mental fielding of the Expeditionary Combat Support System as an enterprise resource planning solution. Strong advocacy for this program should reside with the sustainment commander.10 Recommendation 4-5.
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The Air Force should develop key metrics for sustain ment that flow to ALC commanders and that highlight the success or shortcom ings of ALC activities, drive appropriate behavior for the workforce, and allow Air Force leadership to assess the health of the enterprise and the adequacy of resourcing for the sustainment process regardless of organizational affiliation. Technology Development and Insertion for Sustainment The Air Force's continued reliance on aging aircraft, such as the B-52, C-130H, A-10, F-16, and C-5B, which will exceed their originally designed life spans, will place an emphasis on the increasingly important role of new technologies related to materials, inspection systems, and vehicle health monitoring.11 The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
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The successful application of lessons learned from field experience is exemplified in some recent designs, and there are evolving human factors techniques that provide tools for integrating new maintenance functions and personnel capabilities. The experience gained from the deployment of more recent weapon systems containing special emphasis on low observable characteristics and significantly more use of software also provides a wealth of data for incorporation of sustainment capabilities into future designs.
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The high costs associated with Air Force weapon system sustainment will continue to directly impact the procurement of replacement and new systems unless significant numbers of legacy aircraft are retired.13,14 To date, the Air Force sustainment enterprise has been largely successful in meeting the requirements of a 20-year-long, high-operational-tempo period. Going forward, however, high-level Air Force management, hopefully informed by 12 A blended organic–contractor partnership, as specified in the contract award for a weapon system, assigns specific responsibilities for sustainment of a weapon system to both the industry contractor and the organic ALC.
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Other recommendations will require up-front expenditures -- for example, funding for the most pressing sustainment needs of depot plant and capital equipment -- to avoid future support impacts. In summary, this report presents recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Air Force weapon system sustainment enterprise and at driving cost reductions over the long term.
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