In the late 1980s, fighter force readiness hovered around 80 percent, for instance. Today, only about 74 percent of the Air Force's fighters are fully mission capable on a given day. Air Force mission capable rates for all systems peaked in 1991 at 83.4 percent. Since then, they have slowly declined by almost 9 percentage points, to 74.6 percent at the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 1998. Within these figures lie some specific problems which officials find particularly troublesome.
Budget cuts are a big reason for the recent readiness problems-but they are far from the only cause.
Engines are a good example in this regard. Turmoil in the San Antonio Air Logistics Center workforce, coupled with a spares funding shortfall in Fiscal 1997, caused lower than expected engine repair productivity. These and other changes should stem the 1.1 percent annual decline in mission capable rates, the Air Force contends. The question is when. It has taken until recently for the underfunding in 1997 to work its way through the depot pipeline, so it will take at least several more months before the increased funding in 1998 and 1999 will take effect.