[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H609-H610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE C-130J

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, as many of my colleagues now know, the C-
130J multiyear procurement contract was canceled in the 
administration's recent budget proposal. I want to spend a few minutes 
speaking about the history and the significance of the C-130 Hercules 
program and why we in Congress need to continue to fund this crucial 
airlift program.
  Mr. Speaker, the C-130 aircraft has been the workhorse of the 
military's tactical airlift fleet for more than 50 years. The versatile 
Hercules was originally designed in the 1950s as an assault transport. 
Over the years, however, it has been adapted for a variety of important 
missions, including special operations, close-air support and air 
interdiction, mid-air space capsule recovery, search and rescue 
missions, aerial refueling of helicopters, weather mapping and 
reconnaissance, electronic surveillance, firefighting, aerial spraying, 
Arctic-Antarctic ice resupply and natural disaster missions. It has 
even landed and taken off from a carrier deck without the benefit of 
arresting gears or catapults.
  Currently, the Hercules primarily performs the intra-theater portion 
of the Air Force's tactical airlift mission. This medium-range aircraft 
is capable of operating from rough dirt strips and is the prime 
transport for paratroop and equipment drops into hostile areas, 
including Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Currently, more than half the fleet of combat delivery C-130s is over 
30 years old. Although their longevity is clearly a testament to the 
value of these crucial aircraft, we should be very concerned that the 
C-130 E and H models continue to age at alarming rates, putting our 
tactical airlift capability at risk in the near term.
  In fact, yesterday, the Air Force announced that they are grounding 
much of the C-130E models because of severe fatigue in their wings, 
including a dozen that have been flying missions in and out of Iraq and 
Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, some of these planes were used in Vietnam, 
and we are literally flying their wings off in the Middle East.
  The Air Force has long anticipated the aging of the older models, 
which only makes it more remarkable that the multiyear contract to 
replace these planes has been carved out of the budget.
  Another astonishing fact is that the Department of Defense will not 
save any money. In fact, the perceived savings generated by the 
proposed cuts will unquestionably be consumed by over $800 million in 
termination liability costs and billions of dollars in increased costs 
to support aging and less capable aircraft.
  Consequently, this proposal to end the C-130J program could end up 
costing the American taxpayer more than the cost of completing the 
multiyear contract, and it will leave our military with far less 
capable planes.
  Furthermore, not a single study or any analysis of the total effect 
of terminating this program was conducted prior to the cancellation 
decision. And that, Mr. Speaker, is troubling.

                              {time}  1945

  If left unchecked, this dismantling of our aerospace manufacturing 
base will also come just when subsidized foreign competitors are 
jockeying to displace United States manufacturing. Once lost, hard-
acquired industrial skills will not easily return to our workforce. In 
some cases, they will never come back. Once the Department of Defense 
inevitably realizes they cannot continue to rebuild old planes, their 
only viable option to replace the medium-range tactical airlift would 
be to purchase new aircraft from France.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important that my colleagues realize that the C-
130J is not just designed to replace the older models. In reality, the 
J model has revolutionized the world of tactical airlift. In addition 
to being 15 feet longer, the

[[Page H610]]

J is faster, more powerful, more reliable, easier to maintain, more 
technologically advanced and capable of flying higher and farther than 
ever before. Today, both U.S. and Allied C-130Js are performing 
operational missions in the Middle East in support of our warfighters, 
as well in support of the tsunami relief effort in Southeast Asia. The 
J is performing superbly and testimonials from the pilots using the new 
planes have been extremely positive.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a glimmer of hope that the Department of 
Defense has realized the negative implications of this decision in the 
short and long term and may be working to reverse the decision. But we 
in Congress must continue to do everything in our power to ensure 
America's ability to transport troops and supplies and to perform 
critical humanitarian missions both today and in the future.

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