Author: A. A. Barbour

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13:

The Military Aircraft Command's (MAC) C-141 fleet presently is operated under an arrangement whereby each squadron is manned by both active duty and reserve personnel on an approximately 55% active to 45% reservist basis. This Note compares the cost of operating these C-141 squadrons under the present arrangement with the cost of a wholly reservist operation. It was found that when the costs of the present combined operation are calculated with the usual cost factors for C-141 squadrons there appears to be a potential to save one-third of the annual cost per squadron by transferring the C-141s to the Air Reserve Forces (ARF). However, the relatively high cost of the present C-141 operation, which stems largely from its high peacetime flying rate, would not be reduced by a transfer to the ARF. As a result, the potential savings of a transfer shrinks to 15%, and become negligible when the cost of providing peacetime airlift service by other means is added back in. The author emphasizes that when another cargo aircraft is acquired that can adopt the peacetime missions of the C-141s at comparable cost, these side-effects of the C-141 active/ARF comparison will disappear. Additional keyword: Cost analysis.