US Force Structure - Aircraft reduction

[Dunk]

Yet more cuts are planned, reduction of 244 aircraft from the inventory :

The Air Force released its plan Mar. 28 to implement force structure changes mandated by the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.
The bill authorized the service to complete actions approved in previous years, such as aircraft retirements, and directed execution of Congressionally-approved force structure actions.

The NDAA directs a reduction of 65 aircraft and approximately 1,400 military billets from the Air National Guard, 57 aircraft from the Air Force Reserve, and 122 aircraft and approximately 6,100 military billets from the active-duty Air Force.

Full article: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123342027" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[steve149c]

Thanks Dunk

Reading the full report http://www.af.mil/shared/media/document ... 28-035.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mildenhall to have 1 x MC-130 retired in 2013
Mildenhall to have 2 x MC-130 retired in 2014

No mentions of Lakenheath at this time!

Steve

[sullis585]

But hopefully as per recent reports the 3 MC-130Ps being retired from Mildenhall will be replaced by MC-130Js. The 2013 one has already been retired this year as we know and will be replaced in the summer.

[the concerned]

Could the engine from a f-22 fit in a f-15 because surely with the f-15 expected to stay in service until 2040 a common engine would save money

[page_verify]

Hello Dunk, an interesting document, thank you for sharing the link.

My interpretation of what's already been agreed and what's in the document is that the MC-130 drawdown comes from migration to fewer but newer MC-130Js and an overlap of the CV-22 mission that never existed with the Pave Low.
Lakenheath NOT being mentioned in the document at all makes them a bigger target for what's a real possibility in the next few years, and that's the closure of the entire 48th FW.

I can also see the B-1B, down to just 36 combat coded jets, being retired completely when the US retire from Afghanistan. I'm not sure what it's role would be in the 2020s.

Also, the F-22 has a very different engine to anything else, the only commonality I know of in the US front line is that the U-2 and B-2 share the same engine core.