Budget Hearing - the United States Air Force and Space Force

Good morning. Defense Subcommittee will come to order. We're here to discuss the Department of Air Force budget request for fiscal year 19 or 19, 2027. We have three witnesses before us, Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. Troy Meink, General Kenneth Wilsbach, Chief of the Air Force, and General Chance Saltzman, Chief of the Space Operations. I want to first recognize the Air Force efforts during the operations of Venezuela, now Iran. We have incredible airmen that serve. I certainly offer my condolences for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those who wounded. The harrowing rescue of the Dude 44, our airmen are the very best in the world. I also want to acknowledge the aircraft we've lost and munitions we've expended in Iran, which is not insignificant. We may see a request for a supplemental at some point, but we have not seen it yet. And it's unclear how we plan to replenish our stocks and address losses we've taken in our Air Force inventory. The request before the committee does include additional aircraft, including 24 F-15EXs, 15 KC-46s, 23 T-7s, and a healthy request for F-47 and the next generation bomber. 38 F-35As are requested, of which 14 of those are requested in the mandatory side. That brings me to a concern I want to put on the record. In addition to the billions requested for the F-35 enterprise, several of these programs I consider highest priority are being funded through the mandatory request. 17.5 billion for Golden Dome. 7.7 billion for air moving target indicator. 4.6 billion for munitions procurement and 3.9 billion for space data network. Mandatory funding bypasses the annual appropriations process, which is how Congress exercises its oversight responsibility. If these programs are as critical as the budget request suggests, and I believe they are, then they deserve all the full scrutiny and sustained attention that we on the appropriations process provides. I would urge the department to work with us to bring these programs into the discretionary budget where they belong. With that said, I would note that the U.S. Space Force has made remarkable progress in the short time, maturing into a true warfighting service, accelerating the delivery of critical capability and prioritizing the resilience across its architecture. I commend the men and women of the Space Force for that work. But we cannot afford to be satisfied. The domain is evolving faster than ever and the challenges ahead are serious. China and Russia are not standing still. China has dramatically expanded its on-orbit presence and both nations continue to test and develop dedicated space combat capability. This is not a future threat, it is a present one and the posture must reflect that reality. The Space Force FY 2027 budget request is 71 billion, up roughly 40 billion in FY 2026, is a recognition of that threat. I support investing capabilities that we need. A budget of this scale will test our acquisition workforce and we must ensure that growth in spending is matched by growth in our capacity to execute. We will work closely with you throughout the budget process to find ways we can accelerate the fielding of the platforms needed by our warfighters today. With that, I'll yield with the ranking member, Ms. McCollum, for any opening remarks she would like to make.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, gentlemen. But a special good morning to you, General Saltzman. This is your last appearance before the committee and you're the truly you're my first Space Force person and so that I worked with for so many years. So thank you very much for taking me with on on the journey to stand up this incredible group of men and women who work under your command. We're going to be scrutinizing what is a historically large budget request. For years, we've been hearing that the department needs to be focused with its defense dollars on the challenge of the Indo-Pacific. But we've been anything but focused on China. We've seen major operations this year in our Southern Hemisphere and of course this budget drops as the President has taken our nation to war in Iran, which has not yet been authorized by Congress. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made energy prices go up globally and it's increased the cost of living. Everything from what my farmers are paying for fertilizer to the fuel that they're putting in their tractors as they go out to the field, let alone what everyday Americans are doing gassing up. The President says we can't afford to help American families with daycare or funding of Medicaid or Medicare because we're fighting wars. Well, I strongly disagree with the President on this analysis. There are many competing priorities. Your department is just one of them. We have to work to justify every dollar that you have requested. Mr. Secretary, I believe that you have worked very, very hard from our conversations to prioritize the request. But you have to admit the numbers that the American people are hearing about are eye-popping. Air Force and Space Force, the request would increase by $92 billion. And that increase alone, to put it in perspective, is the entire budget of Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriation bills. General Saltzman, $71 billion for Space Force would be three times the size of the NASA budget. So we have a lot of questions for you. I just want to in because of the the amount of time that we have, especially for you, General Saltzman, you talked about your need for scientists and engineers and for me, that's why we can't cut STEM and as we call it in Minnesota because we include the arts, STEAM. That's our higher education funding for your workforce. So I'm curious to learn more about your plans to grow the Space Force and stand up the new program officers. Mr. Chair, and in the interest of making sure that everybody gets a chance to do anything, I am going to yield back.

I thank the gentlelady and with that we'll open start with the your opening remarks. I just want to make a comment. We expect to have a vote series called about 9:45, so we'll get through what we can, recess and come back right after that. So with that, Doctor, you're recognized for your opening statement.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate it. Ranking Member McCollum, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to come and walk through at least at some level the FY 27 Department of the Air Force budget request. Appreciate the opportunity, appreciate the time. I'm proud to represent the 680,000 airmen, guardians, and civilians of the Department of the Air Force as well as their families and loved ones. After the events of the last year, Midnight Hammer, Absolute Resolve, Epic Fury, I don't think anyone doubts that the Air Force and the Space Force are the most capable in the world. But today we are in the middle of a generational shift in how we employ air and space power. Advances in microelectronics, adaptive manufacturing, autonomy, AI, and more give us a unique opportunity to drive down cost and drive up effectiveness across the board. However, our adversaries recognize that opportunity every bit as much as we do. Those adversaries, particularly China, are modernizing at a very rapid pace. To stay ahead, we must innovate faster in everything that we do. That means staying ready not just to fight tonight, but next month, next year, and next decade. Unfortunately, for the past 25 years, the DAF budget has actually been the smallest relative to GDP in its history. At the same time, the nation has asked more of it. To meet these mission needs, the DAF was forced to both continually cut foundational readiness and shortchange much-needed modernization. The fiscal year 2027 President's budget breaks that pattern with a $338.8 billion request for the DAF, a 34 percent increase from last year. I'll start with our investments to win the fight tonight, foundational readiness. Boosting readiness requires increased and stable investments, particularly given the age of many of our platforms. The FY 27 budget increases our foundational readiness investments by 34 percent, providing the jump needed to truly recover. We're also looking at ways to operate more efficiently by accelerating decision-making, reducing industry barriers to entry, and leveraging innovative contract structures. The DAF's lean budget over the years has also resulted in a $50 billion facility maintenance backlog. This has been further compounded by the way we have traditionally done MILCON, which results in cost more than double that in the commercial world. To reverse this, the FY 27 budget requests roughly doubles investments in both MILCON and facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization, which we will couple with the new authorities such as progressive design-build that we've gotten from Congress. Second, production, particularly of munitions. We retain enough munitions worldwide to meet mission needs. We strongly need factory lines to sustain that and bolster our stockpiles. Therefore, this budget takes full advantage of multi-year procurement for our most critical munitions, totaling 39,000 weapons of all types by FY 33. We are also developing munitions designed from the start to be lower cost and faster to build. With advances in technologies, we will nearly be they will nearly be as capable of our high-end munitions but at a fraction of the cost. Third, modernization. The DAF is currently engaged in the broadest program of modernization in its history. While not every program has gone perfectly, we have already seen a lot of success with the new proliferated space architectures, the collaborative combat aircraft, F-47, B-21, and our command control and battle management systems. The FY 27 request accelerates those successes and applies lessons learned from them across the board. To that end, we are transforming our acquisition system, focusing on empowering our new portfolio acquisition executives and their teams with the authorities, the resources, and talent they need to accelerate capability to delivery. We have delegated nearly every authority we are legally allowed down to the PAEs. We are realigning portfolios to match mission outcomes. We are simplifying decision-making wherever we can. This is a big change and it will impact both readiness and modernization. Finally, our most decisive advantage remains our people. The airmen in the guardians who make everything possible. This budget invests in them. That includes a five to seven percent pay raise for military, larger bonus pools to incentivize high-performing civilians, increased military end strength, and a 300 percent increase in dormitory investments. In conclusion, this budget represents a clear-eyed assessment of the threats we face and the disciplined strategy to meet them. While FY 27 does represent a major increase in our budget, we are ready to execute that budget. Much of the new funding will accelerate mature programs with established contract vehicles. And regardless of the final total, we will remain accountable and transparent to the American taxpayer. Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, General Wilsbach, you're recognized.

All right, thank you. Good morning, Chairman Calvert, Ranking Member McCollum, and distinguished members of the committee. I'm proud to represent 665,000 total force airmen serving our nation. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, your continued support for airmen and their families is greatly appreciated. United States Air Force exists to provide the nation with decisive options at both speed and scale. Every day our airmen deliver that capability by controlling the air, holding targets at risk, moving forces, all across the globe and underpinning the joint force with these combined efforts. As illustrated in recent operations such as Operation Midnight Hammer, Absolute Resolve, and Epic Fury, they do it professionally and without pause. We operate in an environment where distance no longer guarantees sanctuary, networks are contested, and adversaries are fielding capabilities specifically designed to deny us the advantages we've relied on before. That reality drives our focus, and that is readiness, modernization, and taking care of airmen and families. Readiness is the ability to generate combat power quickly, operate in contested environments, and sustain operations over time. Today, our airmen are meeting the mission, but are doing so while managing significant strain. We are flying aircraft that, in many cases, are older than the airmen who maintain them. We are operating at high tempo across multiple theaters and doing so while preparing to be ready for any future conflict. Our fiscal year 2027 budget request prioritizes restoring depth to our force by increasing funding for flying hours, munitions, maintenance, and advanced training that reflects the realities of today and tomorrow's fight. Weapon system sustainment funding increases to over $22 billion and flying hours nearly $10 billion. We are focused on readiness that continues to remain credible and can deliver effects. Modernization is not only about replacing old platforms with new ones, but evolving how we fight. Speed, survivability, and decision advantage will define future conflict. It requires a force that is more connected and adaptable. To this end, we are increasing our research and development funding by 27 percent to over $57 billion. The fiscal year 2027 budget request will accelerate our modernization programs. We are advancing the F-47 and collaborative combat aircraft to increase combat mass and complicate adversary targeting. We are upgrading our current fighter fleet to ensure it remains viable while also investing in long-range strike, advanced munitions, and resilient command and control. Additionally, our nuclear enterprise remains foundational. Investments will now sustain the modernization of the triad through the Sentinel, B-21 Raider, and upgrades to the B-52 and E-4B. These capabilities ensure our deterrence remains credible and ready. Third priority is taking care of our airmen and their families. We ask a lot of our people; frequent moves and operational stress take a toll. Our Air Force continues to invest in improving options for healthcare, childcare, and spouse employment. Therefore, our budget request strengthens quality of life. We are executing the largest investment in our permanent party dormitories in over a decade, which is $1.3 billion. We are looking for solutions to meet the housing needs of our family and funding new construction projects to address childcare capacity shortfalls, adding 1,718 childcare spaces Air Force-wide. The Air Force exists to be the best possible fighting force for our nation. We are building a force that can operate under pressure and deliver effects anywhere in the world. That requires sustained investment, disciplined choices, and an unwavering focus on our people. With your support, we will ensure they have the tools, training, and the backing they need. Thank you, I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, General. General Saltzman is recognized.

Thank you, Chairman Calvert, Ranking Member McCollum, distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for your support for the Space Force and our nation's guardians and for this opportunity to testify on the Space Force's posture for fiscal year 27. As the past year has demonstrated, space is more vital than ever to our economic prosperity, our national security, and the effectiveness of the joint force. However, our adversaries are constantly working to take away our military and economic advantages in the space domain. To defend our nation's interests in space, the Space Force must do more than grow; we must evolve to meet the challenges of this new era. To that end, the FY 27 budget's landmark investment of 71.1 billion for the Space Force represents a generational opportunity to position the force to meet the rapidly expanding threats and demands of the nation. I know some of the budget percentage increases being considered sound big. But let me put those numbers in context. There are at least 25 individual military installations inside the United States that each have more personnel than the entire Space Force. And the top 10 of those installations are all at least twice the size of our service. And the Space Force budget, in comparison to the other services, will still be less than 5 percent of our nation's total military spending. An extraordinary value in a return investment for our nation. That investment is a critical down payment to meet the accelerating demands on the service. In 2025, the Space Force saw a drastic increase in mission requirements across space access, global mission operations, and space control. This trend shows no signs of slowing. To position the service for this mission growth and inform our future needs, the Space Force has been working hard to define what we believe our future operating environment will look like over the next 15 years. And then based on that, we designed our objective force structure, which will provide a vector for our service's investments to meet the nation's expanding needs and defeat future threats. That analysis makes it clear: the Space Force we have today is not the Space Force we will need in the future. Increases in the service's budget and end strength are a national security imperative. That is why the FY 27 budget boosts our top line by 130 percent and our end strength by 27 percent. The proposed budget, paired with this increase in end strength, will allow the Space Force to recruit and train the guardians we need, build vital space capabilities for the joint force and the nation, and provide the support and infrastructure that that mission growth requires. Today, we are deliberately building a cadre of space-minded warfighters equipped with the skills required in an increasingly contested and evolving domain. We are preparing our guardian officers to seamlessly integrate with the joint force. We are bolstering the development of our enlisted force to ensure they become technical space experts. And we are developing our civilian guardians so that they can best provide their unique expertise, ensure continuity of operations, and bring a depth of support across the mission sets. In order to execute all of our expanding missions, it's imperative that we responsibly and effectively convert this increased appropriation into combat capability and warfighting advantage. Unlike the other services, the majority of our budget, nearly two-thirds, is dedicated to developing and fielding new systems instead of personnel or operations and maintenance. This is why the Space Force is so focused on taking advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance our acquisition processes. All with the goal of accelerating the fielding of vital combat space systems at the speed and scale required for each mission. To that end, newly empowered portfolio acquisition executives are positioned to make better and faster program trades, expediting our ability to deliver combat-credible systems on operationally relevant timelines. We're simplifying our approach to requirements, bolstering our relationship with industry and allies, and ensuring our vital guardian workforce is expertly trained in the complex task of acquisitions. Unlike other services that are modernizing existing systems, the Space Force cannot modernize what it does not have. We are creating some of these innovative capabilities for new missions from the ground up, particularly in space control. And we are investing in all categories of counterspace systems necessary to deter and defeat aggression in space. Additionally, we are aggressively pursuing more resilient space architectures that can withstand attacks and continue to operate through extended conflict. This includes expanding our resilient missile warning and tracking initiative that provides life-saving alerts to troops worldwide, and enhancing satellite communications to connect joint force units and commanders around the globe during battle. And growing our space-based sensing and targeting architecture to hold adversary forces at risk through space-based AMTI and GMTI anywhere in the world. But the added manpower, missions, and capabilities require commensurate increases in the structures that support them. So the FY 27 budget request also includes the required MILCON to ensure our guardians are fully supported. The Space Force has laid the organizational foundation, defined the compounding threat, and delivered the blueprint required to counter it. Now we must build those structures and systems to ensure domain superiority for years to come. Although our growth request looks large in a vacuum, the request is actually quite small relative to the overall budget for the Department of War, and I think the payoff is significant. With the continued advocacy from Congress, our guardians stand ready to deter aggression, protect space-enabled way of life, and if called upon, fight and win. As I conclude my final presentation to this committee as the CSO, let me say thank you for enabling our successes and for the opportunity to highlight the exceptional work that our guardians are doing every day to secure our nation's interests in, from, and to space. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, General, and thank you for your service and your last presence in front of the committee. I'm going to start off question; we have time for, I think, a few questions before we break to go vote. FY 27 budget request includes 27.5 billion for the Department of Air Force, 321.7 billion request in reconciliation. It includes 17.5 billion for the Golden Dome, 7.1 billion for space-based AMTI, 2.3 billion for 14 F-35s, 4.6 billion for Air Force munitions, and 5.6 billion for facilities sustainment and restoration of the facilities that you're talking about that are in dire need. Secretary, these are obviously high-priority items that are included in the department's mandatory request. What risk is there to long-term health stability of these programs by this funding strategy in case we don't get a reconciliation vote?

Well, Mr. Chairman, as we discussed, the resources, regardless of mandatory or discretionary, they're all a priority to execute the mission in the future, both from readiness and modernization that we just talked about. So any reduction on either side of the house would have, either side, mandatory, discretionary, will have significant consequences. We didn't put one priority here and one priority there; it's all a priority for what we need to execute the mission going forward.

General Wilsbach, are you concerned about the amount of funding for munitions included in reconciliation?

Well, as the Secretary said, we need munitions. So we put that in as a requirement, and if it comes in via the reconciliation or the base budget, we will expend those resources to restock our munitions and get them to where they need to be. The fact is that we've used some munitions in Epic Fury, and those need to be restocked. We can also get at this with a supplemental as well.

Yeah, this is more of a comment than it is a question, but I would put your priority needs either in the base budget or in the supplemental. Because we want to make sure, especially on the munitions side of it, we had a munition issue before the conflict even started. And now the number of munitions we expended in Iran, we're going to need to get that done. So maybe you may share that with the Secretary and see what occurs. Ms. McCollum.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, we're talking about a $92 billion increase between Air Force and Space Force. But we also need some help. You have mentioned in previous testimony and other conversations about the need to remove older buildings and facilities that eat into your operations, legacy systems that are too old to operate and maintain, that all cost us more. We need the authorizers to do that, so I think that that needs to be a message that's delivered loud and clear to them. When we talk about modernization and readiness, they can become broad catchwords across a swath of programs; Golden Dome, just to mention one. There's the nuclear modernization through Sentinel, which has been out of control; it's 81 percent over what we were originally told it was going to cost years ago. We've got strategic bomber programs, tanker modernization, fighter jets like the F-35, and we even have executive airlift programs that we've been asked to plan for from the Air Force to recapitalize those heavy-use planes. So, we have no idea what is going to be happening in future base budgets, to the Chairman's point. That's why having things built into the base or in a supplemental where we can track and know how the money's going to happen versus a reconciliation is so very important, and we talked about that yesterday. So, Mr. Secretary, back to what the Chairman was asking. We do have to prioritize. I have to prioritize in my personal life; I have to prioritize when I put forward budget ideas with my constituents. So, Mr. Secretary, what are your top three priority programs in this budget that would face significant setbacks if funding was lower than requested? Same thing for you, General Saltzman. What are your three must-have priority programs to get after this year?

So thank you, thank you Ranking Member. I appreciate the question and we have prioritized within our budget submission what we think is the most important. I think from a high-level perspective, you know, the nuclear deterrence mission is always going to be one of our primary missions, so that is both the B-21 Sentinel, some of the weapon systems that go along with those programs and the infrastructure to field those programs are critically important. Again, nuclear deterrence is a no-fail mission and we have to make sure we do that right as well as the NC3 that sits in the space side, so that mission sits in both parts of the Department of the Air Force. From a and then and then the new weapon systems, F-47 as we field the upgraded versions of F-35, all those programs are critically important to maintain match with the Chinese and other high-end adversaries going forward as well as as well as a lot of the munitions and what I say munitions, not only the current munitions but the lower cost munitions going forward are really a priority. I'm a little bit past three already.

You've gone past three and I and I want to give Space Force a chance to give me three.

And he's probably going to have the same ones I will on the space side of the house, so I'll stop there.

At least fingers are crossed that he will, right? Okay, your turn General.

This is a great boss, he's your boss, yeah, I know. No, I ma'am, it's a perfectly valid point, the increase is dramatic. And so focusing on the things that we have increased with this budget request, I would put them into those three categories. The space control capabilities that we're going to need to protect our assets and deny an adversary the use of space-enabled targeting against us. Second is the launch infrastructure to make sure we have the capacity and the ops tempo to continue to launch and put those capabilities on orbit. And then finally, there are the support structures that are necessary to enable the growth. And that's where you get the test and the training ranges and the training capacity to do that work.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, last year I brought up concerns about our strategic airlift capacity, expressing concern around those aging C-5s and 17s. No production line to fall back on. You said then that the department was assessing next generation airlift acquisition strategy. Mr. Secretary, what has the Air Force accomplished in the realm of air mobility this past year? Have you developed a plan to preserve and modernize that fleet, sir?

Let me make a couple of opening comments and then I'll if that's okay, I'll turn it over to General Wilsbach to add a little bit. Yes, sir, we've yes, Congressman, we've finished some of the analysis on what that next generation system is going to look like, so so that is progressing well and we've kind of laid that out. We are extending the C-5s, I believe we're now looking at out through 2040 on the C-5s and at that point, we intend to start replenishing those aircraft first and then following that, we will go into replenishment of the C-17s, which are in very good condition right now. General?

The mobility our mobility machine has been operating marvelously through the last few operations, but in particular through Epic Fury. The way the way that we will be able to continue this into the future is to fund the $22 billion in weapon system sustainment, so as we have increased the number of flying hours to support not just Air Force troops that are deployed but also the joint force, we've been flying additional hours. The 27 budget calls for about $22 billion in weapon system sustainment, so as we finish out Epic Fury and we bring those aircraft back, we'll refurbish them and allow them to extend their lifetime.

Does this year's budget meaningfully move the needle on maintaining global mobility and lift capacity or are we simply managing the decline of a critical capability?

I don't think we're in decline. We certainly have modernization plans that we're looking at and evaluating. TRANSCOM owes us a study that should come out here later this year that will help inform the future of what the Air Force will field, but this budget with the 22 billion for weapon system sustainment and then just over 4 billion for the working capital fund allows us to maintain and then buy the parts that would sustain that force and so I wouldn't categorize our mobility force as declining but rather sustaining.

Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Just real quick, what is the operate on the C-5 now? Sorry, what's the operational rate, how much on the C-5?

The C-5s are running the aircraft availability is 37 percent. Which is why which is why we're asking for the 22 billion because that that that dollar figure will allow us to buy the parts and maintain those aircraft and bring bring the availability up.

Thank you, General.

I would just say Mr. Chairman, in many of the cases what we've seen is it's not necessarily the age of the aircraft, the age of the aircraft does play into it, but a big part of it is just not having enough parts on the shelf to and the maintainers to to just keep those aircraft flying and there's a big investment to do that. Thank you.

Mr. Cuellar.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member. I want to thank all three of you all, thank you for your service and the men and women that work for you, thank you so much. I think this committee has been very, very supportive in so many things and I've read your Air Force posture statement, whether it's quality of life for the service members or their families, whether it's dormitories, child development centers, munitions, everything, I think this committee has been very supportive. One of the areas I focus on is human performance optimization. We started putting money in there, we're hoping to increase the funding again, but I think the developing that elite person is very, very important, so we look forward working with you. Now, I'm representing San Antonio Military Town, I think you all were there just recently. I want to bring up an issue that former Chairman Mac Thornberry from Texas and myself, we amended at my request, amended the NDAA, I think it was in 2019. Then after that, there was a memorandum of understanding in August of 2019 between the Air Force and the San Antonio Water System. It had to do with the resolution of this 54-inch pipeline under Lackland Air Force Base. And basically under the agreement, you all, the Air Force, forced San Antonio Water System to put the water line outside instead of going through the base because as you know, there are some problems underneath, your folks said they didn't want to disturb what was underneath, which is a little disturbing to our to our community because we really don't know what's underneath, but nevertheless, they went around the base. And under the agreement, the Air Force had accepted to to accept this pipeline. Now three years later, you all have been delaying for several reasons and despite a law, NDAA, besides an agreement that you all signed, you all are still three years behind to do this and as you know, San Antonio has been very, very, very supportive of the military there, especially the Air Force. So Mr. Secretary and to the Chief of Staff, why is the Air Force more than three years behind on resolving an impasse with the San Antonio Water System over this legacy 54 sewer line beneath Lackland Air Force Base? It was done back in 2019, law got changed, you all signed a memorandum and here we are three years later and we're still waiting. So again, you all got to be good partners with our local community in San Antonio, so hopefully you can give us an answer and a specific date when we can work this out.

So thanks, Congressman. Yes, we we all need to be good partners and and my understanding is they are working closely with the San Antonio Water Service. What I would say to maybe have a real short answer to the question is I'm told we believe by June of this year, we will have kind of mediated and come to agreement on the number of issues that are still outstanding. If we don't get there by June, I'll I'll come down and let you know why.

Okay, thank you so much, look forward sitting down with you all.

Thank you. I'm going to try to cut the votes down to I mean the the questions down to two to three minutes. Yeah, I try to do that too. Two to three minutes for we can get as many because I think we're going to be on the floor till about 11:30, it looks like the way this is going. So with that, Mr. Carter. Judge.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary, the Air Force recently selected three companies under the ANPI program to deploy microreactors targeting a 2028 timeline CONUS deployment accelerating the original 2030 timeline. Given the Air Force's growing power demands and the operational advantages these systems provide in a contested contested logistics environment, in particular in INDOPACOM, what is the primary limiting factor to deploying these this capability in operational settings over the next few years?

So thank you, Congressman. I'm a big supporter. I we're pushing hard to to field these not only OCONUS but CONUS, matter of fact, there are I think the first fielding is going to be up in Alaska for a CONUS microreactor. With respect to the overseas, the the the long pole there is going to be not just the finish the technical aspect because there is some technical work that has to be done. It's actually easier to build these stationary versus being able to deploy them into theater. So there's some technical aspects of that that we are working through as well as the Army is working through and we're working with the Army on those deployable those deployable microreactors. Probably the biggest long pole aside from the technical is just going to be in the negotiation with our overseas allies and partners on getting the flexibility to actually place those reactors in theater. I think that's going to that's I'm afraid that's going to end up being probably the the the driver. It looks like the technology is moving pretty well, it's going to be it's going to be that environmental and the negotiations with some of the partners overseas.

What's that going to do to your time schedule? Are you going to hold them to

I think our time schedule for the CONUS-based systems is is is probably much higher higher more accurate, lower risk schedule than some of the overseas ones, but I can get back to you on that, Congressman, if I think that's going to affect that.

Well, I think first off, I like the technology very much. I think it's a you will be introducing something that the the whole country may be introduced one of these days. And so I'm hoping we can get that success out there as an example of what nuclear energy today is all about. The fear factor out as far as I'm concerned. One more question on what

Judge, I we only have we're going to because I think when we adjourn, we're going to have to probably not be able to come back, so

Well, on the MAC command, the transport, I happened to go on a trip with Bergstrom years ago on that command. And I learned that our allies don't have any way to transport people by air at that time at least. Do are we still basically if the NATO decides to fight, that's a real question, but if they do, we're going to have to move them as well as us. Are we capable of doing that still?

Well, many of our allies have invested in mobility aircraft, especially our NATO partners. So they have invested not only in C-17s, but they also have the A400, which is an Airbus platform. And then all over the world, our allies are doing it. But we still have the preponderance of the mobility assets for the entire world. We just have a very large capability, and so there'll still be cases where our allies will be asking for help, but we also ask them for help occasionally as well. And so the partnerships are important.

Thank you, General. At least they're trying to get in the game.

Thank you. Mr. Morelle.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, for holding this, and thank you so much to our witnesses for your service. General Saltzman, appreciate your long service and grateful for all that you do for our country. And I think our concerns about the war and budget should in no way, I think, diminish our great respect and admiration for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. So thank you for that. I wanted to come back to something I think the Chairman was talking about, Mr. Secretary, and that is, you know, the overall budget request for the Department of Air Force. $16 billion for Air Force, $12 billion Space Force's budget structured as mandatory funding rather than discretionary, which raises concerns about transparency, congressional oversight, the long-term fiscal sustainability of this, and the work of this committee and the oversight that we bring to this job. And I wonder what the department's plan is if the Congress fails to pass the requested mandatory funding this year.

So again, Congressman, thanks for the question. And on the first part of it, transparency, we are always willing and happy to come down and walk through the details on our budget requests regardless if it's in reconciliation or in the base budget. On the what happens, you know, again, this is a priority, the entire request, reconciliation and the base budget, is a priority for the department, and we need it all to execute the program. And we will continue to work with you as that rolls out.

Well, should we expect this request to be a one-year anomaly, or is the department planning to continue to shift defense funding into mandatory accounts going forward, which would give this committee far less oversight over defense spending?

So again, we are always happy to come down and walk through with you how we're spending the resources, fully transparent, whether it's reconciliation or in the base. With respect to the out-years, we will, the department will continue to work with the Department of War and the administration on that.

So there's been no conversations about future years and what the design will be in terms of whether or not this is an appropriations responsibility or ultimately authorizers who are not appropriators but are effectively being turned into appropriators as we go through this process? Do you know if there's any conversations about doing this in the out-years?

I can't speak to the level of conversation of the strategy going forward, Congressman.

Well, let me just say this, and then I'll yield back in the respectful one other people to be able to speak. I think this is a dangerous precedent. I think Article One responsibilities and the role that is vested in this committee to do oversight, I'm a new member, but I think this is really important not only for congressional integrity and congressional responsibilities and prerogatives, for the American people. So I would pass that message along to those who are helping make those decisions. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

Appreciate the gentleman's comments. Mr. Ellzey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here. Be very quick. Making choices is hard. We are now extending the A-10 until 2030, which I think they've been trying to kill that since 1984 when I was in high school. And you know, as we're looking at choices that you all have to make on this very large budget, you still have to make some. Domain awareness with the MTI, and we lost an E-3 in this conflict. I'm concerned that the E-7 is not addressed in the budget request. So, and the E-2 really doesn't cut it. It's like comparing a King Air to a 777 with respect to capabilities. So help me understand the Air Force requirement for airborne early warning. And that'll be my only question, Mr. Chair.

Let me make a couple comments and then I'll ask General to join in. The E-7 is the replacement for the E-3, and you're right, much more capable system than the E-2. E-2 is a great platform, but it's not in the same class. We have two of the rapid prototype jets on contract and funded. We have contracts in place for five more EMD platforms, and the department is committing to work with you to figure out how to fund the '27 budget, adjust the '27 budget submission to fund the E-7 and then work the '28 going forward.

So domain awareness is a broader category than just airborne early warning. And there is ability to do domain awareness from space, in the air, and from the ground. You also have to do command and control, which you can do command and control through all of those domains. And so the budget is lined up to address all of those domains to enable us to do domain awareness and command and control. So domain awareness is a broader category than just airborne early warning. And and there there is ability to do domain awareness from space, in the air, and from the ground. You also have to

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yield back.

Thank you. Mr. Aguilar.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. General, of the aircraft lost in the Iranian incursion, the Air Force has lost the majority. How do you see this impacting future aircraft recapitalization, and have you made projections about what could be lost in the incursion and how you'll address that moving forward?

So we hope to be able to address this in a supplemental for the aircraft that we've lost. And the procurement going forward is meant to increase the number of tails we have, especially in the fighter force, but it also includes bombers and tankers as well. And so both supplemental and the budget, the '27 budget, is supposed to address those losses.

Mr. Secretary, given the dwindling supply of the F-15Cs and the delays in the EX, how do you see the recapitalization of the F-15 squadrons?

It's a priority. It's a great platform, carry a lot of weapons. We're in the process of working closely with Boeing, the contractor. I actually spent last Thursday all day out with them going through the details on the program on how we're going to ramp production past where they are today. I think the contractor's putting a good plan together with our team. They're supposed to come back with that plan in about 30 days. And I'm confident that we will ramp production. Exactly what month next year that's going to happen, I think we're still working through that, but we will be able to ramp production on the F-15. It's a critical platform.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yield back.

Thank the gentleman. I think Mr. Fleischmann, if you have a quick question, then we're going to adjourn.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be brief. Gentlemen, thank you. Can you help us understand the current near-term outlook of our tanker fleet and the capacity for us to sustain a war in the Indo-Pacific? What should we do to mitigate this growing gap in capacity? Thank you.

Yes, sir, Congressman. I'll do this very quickly. Our tanker fleet has been performing marvelously through Epic Fury. As you know, we have a floor for 466 tankers. We have a number that we're supposed to meet this year of 478, which we will do. And we are working our way with this budget and perhaps future budgets to get to 502. In addition, we have in this budget $105 million dedicated to connecting the tanker force so that they have a similar data link network that we have in our fighters. And so we're on an up-slope for the tanker force.

Thank you. Yield back.

Thank you. And I apologize for the accelerated hearing today, but we have votes. I think we're going to be on the floor for at least an hour, so I'll make a decision that we'll adjourn and we'll submit questions for the record to all three of you. And we appreciate your service and appreciate your attendance. Committee is adjourned.