The US military needs to change its culture in order to reap the full benefits of an energy-efficient force, said Gen. Duncan McNabb, head of US Transportation Command, Wednesday. That may mean re-evaluating each service’s command and control elements to enable mobility officials to identify better operational concepts for the joint team, he said at the Army & Air Force Energy Forum in Arlington, Va. Such concepts would allow for the quicker transfer of supplies from the commercial to the military sector or from surface to air, he stated. “When you do that more efficiently, the most savings you will see will be in fuel. And, those savings are huge,” said McNabb. The Air Force’s new tanker, the KC-46A, will go a long way in cutting energy costs, he said. Unlike the legacy KC-135, the KC-46A will have a longer range, meaning other aircraft won’t have to travel as far to refuel, said McNabb. “Now we will be able to fuel much closer to the fight, so all sorties will be much more efficient,” he noted.
Sustainment of the F-35 is rapidly becoming the most profitable part of the program, as growing numbers of jets, bases and depots drive a greater demand for parts and services, top Lockheed Martin officials said in an April 20 corporate earnings call. The comments come against a backdrop of criticism…