Pentagon Takes Aim at Jets for Congressional Travel

[Gewehr98]

Yes, we (taxpayers) feed them.

They take care of bidness, then they apportion dollars for the non-VIP fleet, afterwards.

Trust me, I'm very much aware of the food chain there.

Keep the pretty blue and white executive planes flying at Andrews AFB, then you'll get your F-22, C-17, B-2, etc.

Not a minute sooner.

The fact that the DoD press secretary blabbed what he did comes as something of a shock to me.

[slingshot]

I don't have any problem with the USAF flying members of Congress as long as it is not essentially a chartered flight.  I don't believe spouses and family can fly for free either.  The rules should be the same as for servicemen.  I also believe that members of Congress are not common people in the sense of their job classification.  However, they are not "Generals".  They are elected officials who did not necessarily work for their position.

The pentagon should know if they need more planes based on their usage.

[Gewehr98]

Today's Associated Press story on the American citizen being retrieved from Myanmar by a U.S. Senator. Note the jet he's getting out of...

[Leatherneck]

$485 mil for restarting the VH-71 project?  That'd buy you one Kestrel and a couple tanks of avgas.  Bet Leatherneck is having fun these days...

On the other hand, I could get ya 24 utility helicopters for the sale price.  Or 6-12 Presidential birds, give or take depending on optional packages.  And unlike the Kestrel, we're already making them.

They're hiding behind tightly closed doors, Rev. Doing an "Analysis of Alternatives." Have no doubt though; after the embarrassment of the VH-71 cancellation dies down, they'll be back with a vengeance. And I predict we WILL spend every bit of the $13 Billion the canceled program had run up to, for a fleet of about two dozen helicopters.

And you know what's lurking in the wings? Replacement of Air Force One. I can't wait to see how much THAT fleet will cost.

Add to that the cost of these VIP transport planes and it's a staggering national cost hidden inside the Defense budget (or at least not prominently displayed) to move The People Who Are More Important Than You or Me about the world. I ask myself, "What does this program offer to national security?" and often I can't answer that...

TC

[RevDisk]

They're hiding behind tightly closed doors, Rev. Doing an "Analysis of Alternatives." Have no doubt though; after the embarrassment of the VH-71 cancellation dies down, they'll be back with a vengeance. And I predict we WILL spend every bit of the $13 Billion the canceled program had run up to, for a fleet of about two dozen helicopters.

And you know what's lurking in the wings? Replacement of Air Force One. I can't wait to see how much THAT fleet will cost.

Add to that the cost of these VIP transport planes and it's a staggering national cost hidden inside the Defense budget (or at least not prominently displayed) to move The People Who Are More Important Than You or Me about the world. I ask myself, "What does this program offer to national security?" and often I can't answer that...

TC

I swear, I'm not trolling.  I'm honestly annoyed.  I know we can provide a better, cheaper and more reliable product on time and relatively on budget.  Because we have been doing so (with only a few minor bumps) for 52 years for Marine One and quite a few heads of states are flying on S92's.   

Instead, we're going to get experimental half a billion per helicopters using odd-ball parts, most likely sole sourced from Augusta and incompatible with the rest of the inventory system.  So expect similar elevated prices on operating costs. 

[seeker_two]

Today's Associated Press story on the American citizen being retrieved from Myanmar by a U.S. Senator. Note the jet he's getting out of...

....and how much did he donate to the aforementioned senator's re-election fund?.... 

[Gewehr98]

Probably nothing.

Hell, he couldn't even swim across a pond in Burma without getting arrested. 

[seeker_two]

Probably nothing.

Hell, he couldn't even swim across a pond in Burma without getting arrested. 

Certainly you don't mean that a senator would delve into such a high-profile issue for popularity points, do you?..... 

[Fly320s]

Must be a junior Senator. . That's no jet, it is a Raytheon (Beech) King Air turboprop.

[Gewehr98]

Sorry, I was focusing on the United States of America paint job, courtesy of the folks at Andrews AFB.

It ain't a jet to me unless it has either 4 or 8 TF-33s, truthfully...   

[Fly320s]

TF-33s?  OLD school. :)

[CNYCacher]

TF-33s?  OLD school. :)

Didn't have the extenders though, tended to shake a bit.

[Gewehr98]

Old school?

Naw, this is (my kind of) old school:   

[Fly320s]

Staggerwings are beautiful, but I've heard that they are difficult to fly.

[Leatherneck]

Only on takeoffs and landings, Fly. Most of the time, they're a piece of cake.

TC

[Hawkmoon]

People conveniently forget that there's an entire USAF wing dedicated to hauling congresscritters and heads of state around. 

The flight hours, O&M, etc, are apportioned and budgeted each year.

IOW, the Pentagon knows darned well that they're spending taxpayer dollars to haul these folks hither and yon.

When they go to Congress for the military budget, it's right there in plain sight.

The budgeted hours are flown and managed right up to the end of the fiscal year, regardless of which VIP is aboard.

It's no different than a bomb wing, fighter wing, tanker wing or recce wing.  As such, I fail to see the indignation.

Dunno about anyone else's indignation, but MY indignation is that the congressional clowns get these junkets at MY expense at all. The military is the Department of Defense, which is part of the Executive Branch of the government. If the Congress wants a fleet of aircraft for the Legislative branch, they can buy a few planes, hire a few pilots, and operate the whole shebang out of a line item in their own budget. They might have to trim (pun intended) the subsidies for congressional haircuts a bit to help pay for it, but they shouldn't be using the military as a private taxi service.

[Gewehr98]

Ah, but they do, and have, since Day One, or at least since FDR's Guess Where II & Sacred Cow, Truman's Independence, Eisenhower's Columbine, and so forth.

USAF for fixed wing.

USMC for rotary wing.

Presidents, Vice Presidents, Executive Branch, Heads of State, and senior military. 

Lobby the congresscritters to remove such an expensive burden on the taxpayer, and then report back to us on how it went. 

[Leatherneck]

Lobby the congresscritters to remove such an expensive burden on the taxpayer, and then report back to us on how it went.  Wink

Yeah, good luck with that.

TC