CSAR Advocates Hope for Another Resurrection
As the U.S. Air Force gets ready to recapitalize its current combat, search and rescue (CSAR) fleet, service and industry officials are hoping that history will repeat itself and the Defense Department will again realize the importance and need for a more modern dedicated CSAR fleet.
Almost immediately after Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced cancellation the Air Force's $15 billion CSAR-X program to replace the existing HH-60 fleet -- the service's number two acquisition priority -- the Pentagon issued a Resource Management Directive, according to industry and military sources. The directive would recapitalize the CSAR capacity at half of the Fiscal 2010 budget allotment, giving the service about $2.8 billion with which to work.
That will be a tough pill to swallow for the Air Force, as a major report from earlier this decade indicated. In its "Combat Rescue Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) Combat Rescue Future Recovery Vehicle Final Report," from February 2002, service officials were less than keen about continuing with the aircraft for CSAR missions.
"The expert panel identified four deficiencies: visual lookout, avionics, workload, self-defense in terminal area, and alternate insertion and extraction (AIE) with wounded crew member. Each of these deficiencies was ranked as critical," the AOA said.
At the same time, the Air Force is used to CSAR receiving short shrift.
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