Senior Leader Airborne C3: A Case for a Streamlined Approach to Funding
Abstract
The U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) is a globally employed strategy that obligatesthe synergistic use of all four instruments of national power (diplomatic, information, militaryand economic pillars) to affect the nations desired security outcomes. Since the Air Forcesinception in 1947, it has been the lead agency for flying the nations highest civil and military leaders around the globe as they implement the NSS. Today, that important mandate still restswith the U.S. Air Force. The Executive Airlift (EA) fleet that upholds this mandate and itsSenior Leader Command, Control and Communication Systems Airborne (SLC3S-A) are pivotal to U.S. national leaders ability to effectively wield those instruments of power; however,SLC3S-A are not without problems, the most important being resourcing of system upgrades.This paper examines the importance of EA and its SLC3S-A and then evaluates how those systems upgrades are funded on the EA fleet. It will then assess how a different yet also unique weapon system funds its mission-specific aircraft upgrades and compare the programs to expose drawbacks to EAs current construct.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 13, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1019209
Entities
People
- Christopher M. Thompson
Organizations
- Air War College