Ahead of the Bell: Aging Aircraft

Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley will testify before the House Armed Services committee at 9 a.m. EDT on future procurement priorities, aging air and space inventories and restrictions imposed by Congress to retire aircraft.

The Air Force has been seeking to retire all of its Cold War aircraft that it can no longer safely operate, including Lockheed Martin Corp.'s C-130E and C-5A cargo planes. But it has faced strong opposition by U.S. lawmakers because of the potential loss of thousands of jobs.

"The Air Force has its back to the wall," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia. "So much of its fleet is approaching retirement and if it doesn't cut costs then it's not going to get what its needs" for the future. The Air Force predicts it could save nearly $2 billion a year by retiring old aircraft.

Also likely to draw the attention of lawmakers are cost overruns on Lockheed Martin's C-5 military transport plane. The Air Force has threatened to terminate the multibillion-dollar program if costs exceed initial estimates.

Separately, Congress will want an update on a $40 billion aerial refueling program being pursued by both Northrop Grumman and Boeing. The deal, which is expected to be awarded by the end of this year, could slip even further because of the holidays, according to the Air Force.

The Air Force has previously said it will wait to award the tanker contract before it takes any further steps on the disputed helicopter deal that Boeing, Lockheed Martin and United Technologies unit Sikorsky Aircraft are seeking to win.

Both Lockheed and Sikorsky have protested the Air Force's decision twice since the deal was awarded to Boeing last fall. Since then, the contract has been on hold.