Summary: Department of Defense (DOD) investments for aircraft logistics cost billions of dollars annually. Logistics support requires adequate numbers and various kinds of maintenance people, facilities, and spare and repair parts to keep aircraft operationally ready in peacetime and capable of meeting wartime needs. The Air Force's total war reserve requirement for secondary item spares and repair parts amounts to about $2.8 billion--$1.7 billion in assets and $1.1 billion to be funded by fiscal year 1983.
In order to determine war reserve parts requirements, proper planning, coordination, and analysis are needed. The Office of the Secretary of Defense needs better coordination within, between, and among the services. The Air Force needs better coordination of wartime planning within its own department, especially among and within the major commands. The Air Force has not conducted comprehensive studies to find out the true wartime capability of the C-5 or other aircraft. Wartime mission planning for noncombatant aircraft should also have more careful analysis. The Air Force has recently changed attrition rates for six tactical fighter aircraft, but overall attrition rates for the fighters seem to be too low based on experience in past wars.
