Summary: The Air Force's Two Level Maintenance program, which seeks to save money by reducing maintenance staffing, equipment, and base-level support without sacrificing force readiness, is not fully achieving its intended benefits. The estimated costs to implement the program have increased, and the expected net savings have decreased--from $385 million to $258 million. In addition, not all program costs have been included in the cost-savings analyses. Under the program, the turnaround time to repair avionics items generally have met Air Force standards. For engines, however, the turnaround times have exceeded the standard by as many as 87 days. The use of the program to support troops during wartime will add to the airlift burden. Because the deployed forces will not have in-country intermediate maintenance capability, the forces will have to depend on airlift for spare and repair parts. However, the theater commander, not the Air Force, controls airlift priorities. As a result, the theater commander could decide that the need for combat power in the early stages of a conflict outweighed the return of unserviceable items to depot repair facilities and the movement of items from the depots to the battlefront.
