Joint Cargo Aircraft

Delineating roles and missions of the US armed services has been a source of contention for most of America’s military history, though it has grown more pronounced since the advent of the aircraft. While the current of debate ebbs and flows, today’s nexus of tightening fiscal constraints, undeniable need for recapitalization, and the driving force of current operational requirement (drawn from Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM, as well as, the broader Global War on Terrorism) highlights the importance of clear direction on roles and missions. One of the areas of concern is in the provision of airlift for joint forces. Operations in Afghanistan, and to a lesser degree in Iraq, highlight an airlift capability shortfall. In simple terms there is a gap between the dispersed locations of logistics-hungry forces in a non-contiguous battlespace and the nearest C-130 capable airfield. The Army and Air Force (AF) began individually ruminating ideas about an aircraft to fill that gap. After the services pursued separate acquisition efforts for several years, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions, Kenneth Krieg, issued guidance on 20 December 05 directing them to form a joint program office merging the Army’s Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) program with the AF’s Light Cargo Aircraft (LCA) program.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.