September 12, 2005

Jumper sees future of airlift, and it looks like tankers

By Nicole Gaudiano
Times staff writer
In his last days as chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper gave a glimpse of the future for tankers, predicting a mix of small and large refuelers potentially flying more airlift missions to meet the air mobility requirement.

Such an option for airlift would work well if the mix is adjusted “more in favor of the larger” tankers, he said in an Aug. 29 meeting with reporters.

Jumper said he thinks a soon-to-be released analysis of alternatives will support such an idea for tanker and cargo aircraft.

“We might be able to adjust the number of C-17s and C-5s in the fleet if we have a tanker force that’s able to absorb the surge in air mobility,” he said.

Jumper spoke on a wide range of topics during the session, looking forward and back, and covering everything from aircraft recapitalization to picking out tile with his wife for the home they are renovating in Burke, Va. (His lesson learned on home improvement: “When it comes to picking out tile and colors, your presence is required, but your opinion is not.”)

After turning over the reins to his vice, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, during a Sept. 2 ceremony, the 39-year Air Force veteran remains on terminal leave until his retirement date Nov. 1.

As he leaves, Jumper said the thing that worries him most is the recapitalization of aging aircraft, and tankers are no exception.

Proposals for replacing the aging fleet became a hot topic throughout Jumper’s four-year tenure as chief and ultimately led to a scandal for the Air Force. A former Air Force acquisition official, Darleen Druyun, got a nine-month prison sentence after admitting to inflating the price the service would pay in a proposal to lease Boeing KC-767A tankers.

Though tankers already are responsible for airlift, Jumper said scheduling tankers for an airlift mission isn’t always done.

“Right now, in the culture, they don’t do that as a matter of course, but they’re capable of doing it,” he said.
To do so would shift the paradigm of how you look at air mobility “and it makes a huge difference,” he said.
“Now you take a bit of risk on, what if you need all your tankers over here tanking for a short period of time and you’ve counted on them to do this other thing, you take a bit of a risk there,” he said. “But you’re taking a risk all along that food chain and you should be able to articulate it and decide whether you’re going to do that or not.”

In terms of tactical airlift, Jumper said more emphasis needs to be placed on C-130s and smaller aircraft, such as those used during Vietnam. Currently, the Army is carrying sling loads beneath helicopters for long distances and that should be done with C-130s or something smaller, he said.

What will drive the Air Force’s air mobility mix is the Army’s future combat systems and modularity, he said. Fast sealift is another option to consider along with airlift in the Quadrennial Defense Review, he said.

Asked about the Army’s combat aircraft projects, Jumper said, “My thought on that is that you don’t need to go out and buy yourself a new Air Force — you’ve got one. We just need to make sure that we take advantage of the core competencies of the Air Force that is already here.”

Growing up with heroes
Looking back on his long career, Jumper said his ambition was to command a fighter squadron, a goal he reached in 1983 with the 430th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

Jumper has also commanded two fighter wings, a numbered Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Allied Air Forces Central Europe, according to his biography. The Paris, Texas, native served as head of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., before becoming chief.

The son of a general officer, Jumper said he got to grow up with “all these heroes who were my dad’s buds,” including legendary pilot Chuck Yeager. As a senior in high school at Langley Air Force Base, he lived on the same street as the Mercury 7 astronauts.

“So you just get captured by all this stuff and it becomes a part of your blood, and quite frankly, I’m not sure it occurred to me that I’d ever do anything else but try to fly airplanes and live this life,” he said.

Nicole Gaudiano may be reached at (703) 750-8653 or at ngaudiano@atpco.com.