Study: Service needs small assault airlifter

[unhappycamper]

Study: Service needs small assault airlifter
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 6, 2007 12:42:35 EST

The Air Force may need to adjust its airlift capabilities to support counterinsurgencies beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.

That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Rand Corp., a government-funded think tank, examining how well the Air Force is prepared to conduct airlift for future counterinsurgency operations.

Airlift for low-intensity counterinsurgencies such as those in Colombia, the Philippines or the Horn of Africa requires the ability to support numerous small, dispersed ground units, the study says.

That could mean the Air Force should look at buying more of the medium-sized Joint Cargo Aircraft and finding a small “assault airlifter” available on the commercial market.

“Buying a larger number of as opposed to a smaller number of large airlift aircraft ... will produce the effect of giving you more tails to be in more places at the same time,” said Karl Mueller, a defense policy analyst at Rand and one of the study’s authors. “So if you have a problem with not having enough tails to meet all your airlift needs, that could be fairly attractive to you.”

But the JCA is not a magic bullet, Mueller said. The aircraft could be useful for carrying smaller cargos to numerous small units, he said, but it was not designed to take off and land on short, rough airstrips such as those found in much of the developing world.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/11/airforce_counterinsurgency_airlift_071106w/



uhc comment: I can hardly wait to see who gets the contract.