Position Paper: Replacing the C-9 Sky Train

Logistical Airlift with the C-40A Clipper

Background: The C-9 Fleet is utilized throughout the continental United States, Europe, and Asia. The Navy and Marine Corps C-9 aircraft provide cargo and passenger transportation as well as forward deployment logistics. The Air Force's C-9s are used for medical evacuation, passenger transportation and special missions. The Department of the Navy has a fleet of (26) C-9 aircraft, which average over 30 years of age. Congress has appropriated money to purchase (6) C-40As as replacements; the first to have been delivered to the Navy in April of 2001.

Discussion: Among the Department of the Navy aircraft fleet is the C-9 aircraft. The C-9B is a convertible passenger/cargo version of the civilian series 30 DC-9, a stretched version of the original DC-9. The C-9B model differs from standard airline aircraft in having a large cargo door on the portside of the forward fuselage, along with necessary cargo-handling features.

The C-9B aircraft is aged. The airframe is worn. The avionics and controls are technologically outmoded. The aircraft are no longer in compliance with pollution and environmental requirements. The C-9 needs replacement. Safety and Cost are the concerns that drive the need for an increased procurement rate. Congress has done a plus-up to the Defense Budget by one C-40A per year. With the delivery of one C-40A, the Navy wrote off a C-9 earlier this year as having no value.

Safety: The first 12 C-9 aircraft were acquired from the used commercial market, and are older than the Air Alaska airframe that crashed off of California. Some of the other planes, while purchased new 29 years ago, were from the same manufacturing lot as the ill fated Air Alaska aircraft. While inspected, air safety is still an ongoing concern. The lives of young Sailors and Marines are at risk. Cost: The C-9 aircraft are fuel inefficient, at a time of increase fuel costs. In addition, its exhausts are dirty and noisy compared to contemporary standards. Congress will have to authorize upgrade dollars on airframes that are rapidly growing obsolete in order for the planes to meet environmental requirements to be flown unrestricted into airfields around the world. These upgrade costs will be on top of the $1.1 million annually which is contracted to maintain each of these aircraft.

On August 29, 1997, The Navy awarded the Boeing Corporation a contract for two 737-700 Increased Gross Weight Combi aircraft to begin the replacement of the C-9B program. Designated C-40A, the aircraft will be used for the Navy Unique Fleet Airlift (NUFEA) mission, being staffed entirely by Naval Reserve crew. The Navy has had one C-40A delivered, four more on order, and one additionally authorized. Factoids:
a. With one C-40A authorized per year at $61 million , Congress is purchasing non-discounted aircraft.
b. Twenty three aircraft have no designated replacements, at current rates it will that take almost twenty-five years to complete authorization; and nearly 30 years to complete the production run. The first C-40A will be nearing a need for replacement, but the time the last C-40A delivery is made.
c. Extending the purchase of 737 cargo-combo models over a longer time horizon will mean mixing models, avionic packages, ground support gear, and training requirements, increasing cost.
d. If Boeing closes the 737 line, as projected, in a little over ten years, the Navy will be forced to seek used 737-700s from the pre-owned market, and will pay more for airframe and conversion than than for brand new aircraft.
e. The Navy, currently, only includes one more airframe in its POM Planning in the out years.

Conclusion: The Navy/Naval Reserve airlift will continue to rely on Congress to plus-up the Defense Budget to continue purchase of replacement C-40As for the aged C-9B. Even at the historical rate provided by Congress of one C-40A per year, C-9B planes will not be replaced before there is a serious risk of becoming safety hazards, and cost sinkhole. Congress not only needs to continue to authorize and appropriate funds for future C-40A’s, but also at a higher rate of procurement.