Jim Saxton: “we have a ways to go. Our strategic airlift, that is the lift that we use to get to far places around the world, over…”

“we have a ways to go. Our strategic airlift, that is the lift that we use to get to far places around the world, over the last several decades has been carried out in basically 3 fashions. We have the C-141s that started to come on line in 1962; we have C-5s, a great fleet of C-5s, although they are old too. They also came on line in the 1960s. We also have a fleet of aircraft which we in effect rent from the airlines which are called the craft fleet, and they are pressed into service in time of surge when we need to get someplace in a hurry. They are regular commercial aircraft, freight carriers that we use, for the most part, and also passenger carriers, but freight carriers for the most part that we use in conjunction with the C-141s and C-5s. The C-141s are worn out and absolutely will be out of service, for the most part, with the exception of one wing, that I am aware of, that will be flying out of McGuire Air Force base up in New Jersey, and a few C-141s by aught 3 that will be used by the Reserves. Other than that, the C-141s are going away. The C-17 buy that we have put in place to replace in effect the worn out C-141s are in the process of coming on line. We are ramping up so that we can produce and bring on line 15 a year.”