{"id":39219,"date":"2018-07-02T18:22:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T18:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/02\/us-spy-planes-are-breaking-down-and-lawmakers-want-answers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:04:53","slug":"us-spy-planes-are-breaking-down-and-lawmakers-want-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/07\/02\/us-spy-planes-are-breaking-down-and-lawmakers-want-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"US spy planes are breaking down \u2015 and lawmakers want answers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 America\u2019s aging C-135 reconnaissance planes keep breaking down, and alarmed lawmakers want the U.S. Air Force to tell them why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the 55th Wing\u2019s Boeing-made reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering aircraft, all more than 50 years old, are meant to carry out critical missions from operating bases in England, Greece, Japan and Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an Omaha World-Herald investigative series<\/a> has found that mechanical problems plague the jets, cutting short 500 of their flights since 2016 and one of every 12 missions since 2015. That\u2019s prompted Nebraska lawmakers to write<\/a> to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, urging her to probe and report on the health of the 55th Wing\u2019s worn-out fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Nebraska delegation is trying to fend off an effort within Congress to strip funding to recapitalize the OC-135, which conducts overflights of Russia under the 34-nation Open Skies Treaty. Some lawmakers and Pentagon officials<\/a> have grown skeptical of the treaty, which allows reciprocal surveillance flights, amid alleged Russian violations, but the administration has requested funds for two new airliners to take over the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has one of the worst maintenance rates in the United States Air Force,\u201d Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said of the OC-135 on the House floor last week. \u201cIt frequently breaks down in Russia<\/a>, putting us in very hostile, awkward situations with Russians at their bases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Deb Fischer, led the letter with Sen. Ben Sasse, a SASC member; Bacon (a retired brigadier general and former 55th Wing commander who sits on the House Armed Services Committee), as well as Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter asked Wilson to report on the 55th Wing\u2019s safety, security and continued mission effectiveness as well as the Air Force\u2019s long-term plans to sustain and recapitalize the wing\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It referenced the RC-135V\/W Rivet Joint, RC-135S Cobra Ball, RC-135U Combat Sent, WC-135 Constant Phoenix, TC-135 Rivet Joint Trainer and the OC-135 Open Skies aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the current budget season, House and Senate lawmakers have taken divergent approaches to the Trump administration\u2019s $222 million request for the two new aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House appropriators and authorizers stripped the funding from their 2019 bills. The authorization bill withholds the funding until Russia adheres to the treaty and agrees to extradite Russians indicted for meddling in U.S. elections in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\t