Hearing on FY 2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Air Force

wanna thank you for your decades of service to our nation. I know both have more time for UK and UofL basketball, but in the case of Western, your hometown school as well. So gentlemen, I also need to acknowledge the doubt that the devotion and sacrifice of us airmen have been at the absolute razor's edge of recent operations in the gulf degrading iran's offensive capabilities evading the enemy on the ground bringing down to comrades' home sustaining the joint force and in the case of k. c. one thirty-five crew over iraq making the ultimate sacrifice. I know I speak for the entire subcommittee in recognizing these fallen airmen, their comrades, and their families. But we're here today to review the administration's fiscal year twenty-seven budget request for the department of the air force. As I've observed in discussions with other services, major increases to top-line defense spending represent a tremendous opportunity to improve readiness and lethality across the force and industrial capacity across our whole country. At the same time, the structure of the request for the Department of Defense would put consistent funding for key priorities at unnecessary risk. For a priestess uh the President's defense agenda like multi-year procurement contracts for critical munitions half of the f-thirty five program golden dome and drone dominance initiatives are all requested as a one-off reconciliation spending not a full year base appropriations this is especially mystifying for multi-year procurement contracts i mean the need to budget for them annually is right there in the name but it's more than just a contradiction in terms it's also a recipe for major disruptions in the very possible event that party-line reconciliation fails the administration's choice to structure an ambitious one point five trillion dollar request in this way is yet another missed opportunity to put key aspects of our common defense on a stronger and more enduring fiscal footing. Specific to the Air Force and the Space Force, a few observations. First, I'm encouraged to see the department acknowledge the need for the E seven wedge-tail airborne battle management aircraft. This platform meets the current day need, current day capability and the department's alignment with this priority is a welcome investment in resiliency as we continue to build our space-based capabilities that will serve our joint force in the future. Also glad to see the PISCR year twenty-seven requests begin to address the issue of operational readiness rates by investing more in F thirty-five spares. but the department will continue to step on its own tail if it insists in housing procurement with new airframes primarily in one-off reconciliation spending if fielding the f-thirty-five remains an operational necessity both for the united states and for our allies there's really no excuse for not placing it squarely in full year appropriations so general salzman i'm glad that we this request represents a massive opportunity for space force procurement of key systems but i worry whether industrial capacity will be able to meet a sudden surge in spending pending a clearer picture of how the department plans to sustain steadily increasing investment in the out years so i wanna hear from all of you how the space force's thinking about long-term scaling finally at a fundamental level i'm curious to hear from each of you about how the department of the air force is applying the lessons of the modern battlefield i'm concerned that the pentagon as a whole is not learning quickly enough from the battlefields in ukraine and the gulf and fail to learn and adapt particularly when it comes to force protection and counter drawn technology as real and measurable costs speaking of which there's clearly a need for supplemental funds to cover critical operational costs incurred in the gulf to require extra readiness to make serious down payments against the munition shortfalls that long predate operations against iran so i would encourage the administration to create such an opportunity and would hope each of our colleagues would seize on it. With that, following Senator Coon's observations, we'll um move to Mr. Secretary, the two generals will make short statements and leave plenty of time for question and answer. Senator Coon.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, um and thank you for our partnership and broad agreement among many of the uh themes that you just raised. You'll hear them reflected in my opening remarks as well. Um, Secretary Mink, General Wilsbach, uh, General Saltzman, um, thank you uh for your service and for your testimony here today. The Air Force and Space Force are fortunate to be led by the three of you who continue to display a good judgment and a sincere interest in doing right by our nation. Uh, I'd like to note this is General Wilsbach's first time testifying uh as Chief of Staff of the Air Force thank you in advance for your insights today. And I'll note, as did the Chairman, that this is General Saltzman's last testimony before this subcommittee, uh, ahead of your expected retirement in August after more than thirty-five years of service. Salty, I'm not sure you'll miss any of us, but we will certainly miss you. Um, thank you, um, to you and your family, uh, for the sacrifices you've made for our nation over so many years. Uh, and I look forward to your last nuggets of wisdom today, uh, and in the weeks ahead. Um, over the past year, our Airmen, Airwomen, and Guardians have operated under immense operational pressure around the world, uh most nigh- most notably in the Middle East uh in support of several operations, and currently Operation Epic Fury. Uh tragically, uh several of our air crews uh have paid the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate price during this operation, and Dover Air Force Base uh continues to carry out um with honor uh its sacred duty uh to welcome home our fallen uh and to support and sustain their families uh at dignified transfer ceremonies. Um, as I've noted at previous hearings, our service members always answer the call and operate with immense professionalism and at the highest level of any military in the world. Um, but it is also demonstrably the case these current operations and recent operations have strained readiness, uh, sharply reduced important munitions inventories and weakened our hand to respond uh to tomorrow's threats. It's an indisputable fact we have fewer available aircraft and munitions to respond to f- future threats in the Indo-Pacific as a result. responsibility for the decision to take us to war rests with the president who chose this war, without a clearly articulated strategy in place. Congress also bears responsibility for allowing it to continue and to drift, although I am grateful for members on both sides who are sincerely interested in working to reclaim Congress's constitutional authority. Today, um, the Air Force and Space Force, um, continue with long-standing modernization and readiness issues that predated Operation Epic Fury. I look forward to hearing how this year's budget request attempts to address those issues, well in the context of this new war. I would love to hear how our defense industrial base is working to change behavior, uh to help produce on time and on budget, um can it keep up with the increased demand signal that this budget sends, and how do we bring uh new players, new manufacturers into an arena, uh once dominated by just a few big primes. Uh, as the Chairman and I have pointed out at each of our hearings this year, this entire subcommittee supports Ukraine strongly, not only on the merits but also for the critical lessons we can learn from them and from collaboration and partnership. Ukraine is the world's most complex operational military environment right now. It sits at the cutting edge of air warfare and industrial base ingenuity. Low-cost cruise missiles first used by Ukraine are making their way into the Air Force budget and I look forward to hearing more about additional efforts like this. Uh, n- ne- nevertheless plenty in our traditional Air Force and Space Force needs improvement. Our F-thirty-fives today sit around fifty-six percent mission capable, in part due to low spare parts availability. The new F-fifteen EXs are years delayed coming off the production line. Um, the department has been unwilling or unable to speak with clarity on the need to upgrade our aging airborne early warning and control fleet, delaying development and delivery. of the new E seven, um through budget malpractice last year and I hope we will move forward and resolve that. I also remain concerned about key munitions, particularly given that a large portion of epic fury has been conducted using air to ground and air to air munitions. Um the administration has at times um talked in competing ways with one breath insisting our current operational tempo is risk-free and in the next requesting billions for additional vital munitions. This subcommittee will work to do the right thing, protect American lives, ensure that our defense is adequately funded, but we also need candor from the administration in discussing shortfalls and limitations. The Department of the Air Force is requesting nearly a hundred billion dollars uh in the defense discretionary budget from two fifty seven enacted to three fifty one billion that we're evaluating here today. We need, and our nation deserves, a modern air force prepared to protect our interests. I'm pleased to see the budget request for the Space Force is increasing. reflecting the number of key missions you're tasked with. Uh, but I'd note for my colleagues this request is challenging to defend, uh, in, in the face of steep reductions agencies across the government are facing this fiscal year. The department put forward yet another bifurcated request as the chairman also reflected counting on reconciliation, that has proven, uh, to be an unworkable way to sustainably budget, uh, for base needs for our military. The request places critical resources multi-year munitions procurements, spare parts for the F- thirty-five program, key missile defense space programs into a reconciliation package that I doubt, will ever be enacted. I look forward to a better understanding how this request supports the Air Force, and what adjustments you would recommend if that funding does not come through. Turning to the space domain as we've discussed, General Saltzman, the Space Force is in the process of standing up each of the pillars it needs in its approach. Your emphasis on understanding space as a war-fighting domain and on space control is a critical and valued shift. At the same time, we can't lose sight of your core enabling missions in providing GPS, satellite communications, imagery and intelligence. Without those things, the joint force could have a very bad day. To accomplish all these missions, we're lucky to have a dynamic space industrial base, but it is still fragile. And continuing to sole source big contracts to one vendor, might profoundly harm that competition and be a serious mistake for our long-term interests. So as we review your budget request, I'll be looking for fostering competition using multiple providers, requiring open standards in architecture, and broadening and deepening the industrial base by giving new entrants a meaningful opportunity and encouraging more capacity and diversity in sub-tier providers. In conclusion, the Air Force and Space Force provide critical foundational capabilities to our nation, in defending the United States. This year more than most, this subcommittee understands and must understand your goals in building this budget, whether or not it's realistic to grow this fast, uh, and the smartest ways to reprioritize your budgets in the case that reconciliation does not occur. Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, I look forward to the testimony.

Thank you, sir. Gentlemen, why don't we go ahead and the order that I suggested, starting with you, Miss Secretary, if you could make it as brief

uh chairman mcconnell i would like to uh chairman collins and distinguished members of the committee thanks for the opportunity to come down and talk about the fy twenty seven budget request so i am proud to represent the six hundred and eighty thousand airmen guardians and civilians of the department of the air force as well as their family and their loved ones after the events of the past years operation minute hammer absolute resolve epicurre i don't think anyone doubts that air force and 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 power and space power uh advances in autonomy adaptive manufacturing ai microelectronics and more give us 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 in china are modernizing at a very rapid pace to stay ahead we must innovate faster in everything that we do that means staying ready to fight tonight next month next year next decade unfortunately the past twenty five years the dash budget has been the smallest relative to g d p in history uh at the same time the nation has asked more of it uh to meet its mission's needs needs the daf was forced to shortchange both foundational readiness and much needed monetization the fiscal year twenty twenty seven the president's breaks that pattern with a three hundred and thirty eight point eight billion dollar request for the daff, a thirty four percent increase from last year. I'll start with our investments to win the fight tonight. Foundational readiness. Boosting readiness requires increased and stable funding, particularly given the age of many of our platforms. The FY twenty seven budget request increases our foundational readiness investment by thirty four percent, providing the jump needed to truly recover. We're also looking at ways to operate more efficiently by accelerating decision making, reducing barriers to entry for industry, and leveraging innovative contract structures. The DAF's lean budget over the years has also resulted in a fifty billion dollar facilities maintenance backlog. This is compounded by the way we have traditioned it on MilKon, which results in cost which results in cost more than double that of the commercial construction world. To reverse this, the FY twenty-seven budget request nearly doubles investments in both MilKon and facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization, which, when coupled with the new authorities granted to us by Congress, thank you, such as Progressive Design Build, will address the check, will address the shortfalls. Second, production, particularly of munitions. While we retain enough munitions worldwide to meet mission needs, we need strong factory lines to sustain and bolster our stockpiles. Therefore, this budget leverages existing commercial production capacity and takes full advantage of multi-year procurement for our most critical munitions, totaling thirty nine thousand weapons of all types by FY thirty three. We are also developing weapons almost as capable as our high munitions, but at a fraction of the cost and with much higher production rates. I'll note that while the money in this request is essential, time is our most precious resource. And the department will focus on companies that can scale quickly, while still broadening the industry base to ensure competition in the future. That leads me to number three, modernization. The DAF is currently engaged in the broadest program of modernization in its history. While not every program has been perfect, we have already seen a lot of success with our new proliferated space architectures, the collaborative combat aircraft, the F forty-seven, B twenty-one, our command and control, and our battle management systems. The FY twenty-seven request accelerates those successes and applies lessons learned from them across the board. To that end, we are transforming our acquisition system. We are empowering our new portfolio acquisition executives and their teams with the authorities, resources and talent they need to accelerate capability delivery. We have delegated nearly every authority we are legally allowed to do so, down to the PAEs. We are realigning portfolios to match mission outcomes. Our end state is all DAF acquisitions aligned within the PAE structure to ensure consistent, simplified and rapid decision-making across the Finally, our most decisive advantage remains our people, the airmen and guardians who make everything possible. This budget invests in them. This includes a five to seven percent pay increase, larger bonus pools to incentivize high-performing civilians, and increases in military end strength and a three hundred percent increase in dormitory investments. In conclusion, this budget represents a disciplined strategy to meet our threat, while the FY twenty-seven budget represents a major increase In our budget, we are ready to execute. Much of the new funding will accelerate mature programs with established contracts. Regardless of the final total, we will remain accountable and transparent to Congress and the American taxpayer. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Good morning, uh, Chairman McConnell, Ranking Member Coons. distinguished members of the committee, I'm proud to represent six hundred and sixty-five thousand total force airmen serving our nation. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, and your continued support to airmen and their families. 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 and supplies 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 advantages we've relied on before. That reality, drives our focus toward three priorities. Readiness, Modernization, and Taking Care of Airmen and their 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 always doing so while managing significant strain. We are flying aircraft that in many cases are older than airmen, who maintain them. We are operating at a high operations tempo across multiple theaters, and doing so while preparing to be ready for any future conflict. Our fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget request prioritizes restoring depth to our force by increasing funding for flying hours, munitions, and maintenance, and advanced training that reflects the reality of today and tomorrow's fight. Weapon system sustainment funding increased to over twenty four billion dollars and flying hours to nearly ten 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 twenty seven percent to over fifty seven billion. The fiscal year twenty twenty seven budget request will accelerate our modernization programs. We are advancing the F-forty-seven 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 now will sustain the modernization of the triad through the Sentinel, B-twenty-one radar, and upgrades to the B-fifty-two and the E-four B. These capabilities ensure that our deterrence remains credible and ready. Third is taking care of airmen and 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 health care, child care, and spouse employment. Therefore, our budget request strengthens quality of life. We are executing the largest investment in our dormitories in over a decade of two point seven billion dollars in FSRM and three hundred and thirty million in MilKon, for a total of three billion. We are looking for solutions to meet housing needs to our families, with a request of one point three billion, while funding new construction projects to address child care capacity shortfalls shortfalls by adding over seventeen hundred additional child care spaces. 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, Chairman McConnell, Ranking Member Coons, distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for your support for the Space Force and our nation's guardians. 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 space. To defend our nation's interest 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 twenty-seven budget's landmark investment of seventy-one point one billion for the Space Force represents a generational opportunity to position the force to meet the rapidly expanding threats and demands of the nation. And I know some of the budget increases being considered sound big, but the Space Force budget in comparison to other services will still be less than five percent of our nation's total military spending, an extraordinary value and return on investment for the nation. That investment is critical, is a critical down payment to meet the accelerating demands on the service. In twenty twenty five, the Space Force saw a drastic increase in mission requirements across space access, global mission operations and space control. And 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 fifteen years, and then designed our objective force structure to meet the nation's expanding needs. 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 services budget and end strength are a national security imperative. That is why the FY twenty-seven budget boosts our top-line by a hundred and thirty percent and our end strength by twenty-seven 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 in the nation, and provide the support and infrastructure that the myth mission growth demands. In order to execute all of our expanding missions, it is imperative that we responsibly and effectively convert this increased appropriation into combat capability and war fighting 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. And that 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 relationships with industry, 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 the innovative capabilities for new missions from the ground up particularly in space control where we are investing in all categories of counter space 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 but the added manpower missions and capabilities require commensurate increases in the structures that support them so the fy twenty seven budget request also includes required milcon to insure 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 space advantage for years to come. Although our growth request looks large in the vacuum, the request is actually quite small relative to the overall budget. With the continued advocacy from Congress, our guardians stand ready to deter aggression, protect our space-enabled way of life, and if called upon, fight and win. As I conclude my final presentation to this committee as the CSO, um, let me say thank you for enabling our successes and for the opportunities 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

mr. secretary uh year ago ukraine's operations spiderweb employed cheap drones to destroy twenty russian military aircraft sitting on the tarmac deep inside russian territory they have conducted regular long range drone strikes deep into russian territory switching to another part of the world earlier this year iran struck five kc one thirty five and one e three on the ground at prince soltan air force base in saudi arabia in drone and missile attacks iran has also struck us targets in gudder and in iran so why has us military been so slow to adapt to the changing nature of warfare what is the air force doing to harden facilities and defend against drones at home and abroad

uh thank you mr. chairman i i agree with you it's it's

one one minute longer also i think everyone on the subcommittee agrees with secretary dristel's assessment that ukraine is the quote silicon valley of warfare end quote have you instructed any senior air force leaders to visit ukraine to identify lessons and technologies for the air force to apply

um i i have not instructed anybody to visit ukraine but uh the teams are either visiting ukraine or visiting manufacturers that are supporting ukraine or i'm actually going to uh ucom uh in a week or so to to again get more information on what's going on over there as well uh so i i think we're we're we're we're well um versed in what ukrainians are doing and what the russians are doing and and the threats and i i agree with you mister chairman that that this is one of the more significant threats particularly in the conus right where we have to date treated those are sanctuary locations and have not done a lot to defend against them uh but that's changing quickly uh we are in the process of prioritizing prioritizing the bases and starting to field uh equipment uh think on the order of fourteen bases uh we're we're focused on in the near term uh all the way from the command and control and the the monitoring systems to do sensing around the base as well as various kinetic non-kinetic um and directed energy uh type weapons uh uh that we are working closely with the task force four O one which is uh requesting a significant increase in funding going forward to to procure uh the various types of weapon systems going forward

shifting to a different topic executing operation required both the advanced build-up of combat power in theatre and sustainment flights and long-range strike missions. I understand you couldn't have done this without the cooperation with Europe and Gulf allies on access basing and overflight. how would operational planning have been affected if you couldn't rely on the reach and force multipliers provided by our friends in europe and the gulf there's been some suggestion that our european allies aren't helping us in the area i think that doesn't stand up against the facts how much does the air force's ability to strike adversaries worldwide lean on access basin an overflight from allies and partners, would the airport be better off with less access to natural countries?

Uh, absolutely not, um, yeah, we we can and do have the ability to strike with without uh forward locations pretty much anywhere on the planet, but it is greatly facilitated by access uh to our allies and partners. Uh, turn over general wills back for additional comments

uh certainly uh significantly limit our options as secretary said we do have the capability from conus or uh other uh territories that we have locations that are owned by the us to strike from those locations but um if we don't have access basin and overflight into partner and allied countries it it greatly limits our ability to force project uh resupply strike et cetera

Sure, go ahead.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I've uh three areas of questions I wanna get through quickly if I can. Low-cost cruise munitions, air-based drone defense, and CCA. Uh, I'll just follow up on the point uh the Chairman raised about uh base defense, as we've discussed Mister Secretary. The tragedy at tower twenty-two uh showed, me at least and I think many of us, the cost of neglecting critical investments in drone defense Um, you referenced the partnership uh with the joint inter-agency task force four one. Uh, are you confident each side knows their lanes in the road in this work? And uh, how is your work complementing the DOD wide initiative?

I I think we do understand, but it's uh it's a rapidly evolving uh playing field. Um, just how we're going to structure our base defense from an organizational uh we're working through quickly and i can have a general touch on that uh but it's a rapidly changing field but i think we have good relationships with them uh i i think we are laying out our priorities closely with them on what basis we're gonna fill it well so i think that relationship is going well um and so i i think with with the funding that's in the request i i think we should be able to fill a lot of that equipment fairly quickly

uh i recognize that you have a very difficult prioritization exercise between forward operating bases fixed overseas installations our homeland. Um, and as you answer, if you could just say, is there any authorities, resources and support from Congress you need to get after this problem? And where are you most concerned we're not doing enough?

Uh, thank you for the support that you gave us in past years on the authorities. And I think the authorities are in a good spot, uh, right now. Um, overseas we have no limitations, uh, especially, uh, where there's active combat happening. There's no authorities limitations there. In fact, the the rules of engagement there are exactly where our war fighters would like them to be. Um, in the CONUS, uh, we we now have the authorities that we need to defend our bases. And so at the at the current time, I don't suggest we, uh, change, um, those authorities. With respect to the question you ask of do people know where their lanes are, absolutely yes. We actually, uh, sit in on the JTF four O one meetings and, uh, we take that back to the to the air staff and then can, uh, propagate the air force part of j t f four one uh for our for our means the entire department of war has about ten billion dollars in this uh twenty seven budget request uh for a counter uh drone counter u a s technology and um that that will be really important for us to bolster this year uh in the uh we're uh gonna stand up capabilities at twenty six of our key installations for the air force Previously that was ten, so we're gonna uh more than double that.

Thank you. I I do think this is an absolutely critical uh mission uh for all of us. As we've discussed, this committee strongly supports Ukraine, I'm encouraged to see the extendable range affordable missile, low cost long range cruise missiles uh going uh into production, uh and I'd be interested briefly in what you think we've learned from the ERAM, uh whether the family of affordable mass missiles uh will be entering procurement, and sufficient to meet our demand, uh, and General Wilspot, given your previous service in the Indo-Pacific, you know, how will that help us in the China scenario, and how do you plan to use variants with allies and partners in the region, where the tyranny of distance makes co-production essent- really essential?

So the FAM uh missiles are um on track to start production in September of this year, um so that's good. Um what we've learned from seeing uh these not only in the Middle East, um also from what's happening in europe is uh we can see the value of mass um the ability to produce at a much higher rate that gives you that mass i mean the mass is important because it complicates the the other side's defenses they have to honor everyone of those munitions and when you have a lot of them they they will end up using their exquisite defenses uh to shoot those weapons down and eventually we're gonna get some through this this is true in any theater that you might want to employ these to include the pacific

um i'll just reinforce what the chairman said about the lessons learned in ukraine deserve your attention and engagement and i'm encouraged by this production and i'm hopeful that it'll uh demonstrate that we're learning one of the key lessons of ukraine last on the cca program if i might um mr. secretary this program is growing by over a billion dollars i'm not yet convinced it'll be the low cost and a charitable platform It's meant to be and recognize a lot of the detail we can't discuss here, but what steps are you taking to ensure um this program's held to cost and schedule metrics that are solid and how are you protecting against enthusiasm for the concept of operations accidentally shielding the program from hard decisions? And then last, how will we integrate our allies into this program?

Uh yeah, so the the it's a really good news, right? The the platform is on schedule, they are sticking to their their budget targets uh and performance is actually in many ways better than than what we expected uh with respect to keeping that cost down going forward we have competition we have open standards that allows to bring in several contracts for different pieces of the hardware and bring on additional contractors error from the avionics to the aircraft uh bodies themselves and engines so we're really trying to make sure we have a very modular open structure which would drive those costs down going forward uh and we are all working closely with the allies as a matter of fact the allies are doing investments in that are similar to what we're doing in the us uh been very optimistic i i don't know that any of those things would be considered truly a treatable uh but if you look at the cost trade with an adversary of a cca with a a number of long range weapons on there compared to the aircraft they might throw against them it's a really good cost cost trade for us going forward uh and i would just one final thing uh back on the the family of the fam weapons systems across the fight of about sixty percent of that thirty thirty plus thousand weapons are coming from there so that that tells you the level of investment sixty percent of the weapons going forward across the fight of

thank you thank you both thanks Mister Chairman

Senator Collins followed by Senator Baldwin and Senator Kennedy

thank you Mister Chairman Mister Secretary I'm pleased to see the Air Force's continued investment in the thirty-five modernization which includes the engine core upgrade and the power thermal management upgrade. In maine uh the pratt whitney facility in north berwick employs more than twenty-three hundred people and plays a critical role in producing and sustaining the f one thirty-five engine. this impressive facility has made substantial investments in workforce capacity to support the long-term success of the F-thirty-five. So here's my concern. The administration is proposing that a significant portion of the funding for both of these modernization programs be done through a third reconciliation bill, a bill that may never happen. For example, of the one hundred fifty-four um million dollar requests for the power thermal management upgrade for the engine, only ten million is requested in the base budget. What is the impact on these programs if they are not fully funded, in fiscal year twenty twenty seven and what would be the implications for the defense industrial base

uh thank you chairwoman uh and i agree it's a phenomenal engine that pratt builds for the f-thirty five um and we continue to modernize that engine going forward to make sure it can keep up with the rest of the aircraft uh yes uh uh you know the fy twenty seven budget request is a combination of base and reconciliation. Uh, we did not prioritize to execute the mission that we are asked to do. The total request is required. Uh, if if we do not get the total request, then prioritization will have to be done within the budget we do get. And that'll be a continual dialogue with the with the Congress going forward.

Thank you. I would just suggest that it is taking a terrible risk and creates instability when you're counting on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money rather than doing base funding through the defense appropriations bill so i

can i just add one thing i think it's safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill so it's really not an option

i agree with that assessment. um let me switch to a different issue, mister secretary, the conflict with iran has once again underscored the importance of the aerial refueling to us military operations. tankers are essential to power projection, global mobility, fighter operations, and the sustainment of us uh forces across multiple Uh the air refueling wing in Bangor, Maine has long played a critical role in that mission. Since twenty twenty one, and particularly during recent operations, we've seen increased activity in Bangor, reinforcing the importance of the Air National Guard tanker units to real world operational requirements. At the same time, the Air Force has validated a requirement for up to seventy-five additional KC-forty-six aircraft, and plans to continue tanker production well into the next decade. Given the strategic importance of tanker aircraft and the continued operational contributions of the Air National Guard units, such as the impressive one in bangor when should congress expect the air force to provide a clearer road map for replacing the aging kc one thirty five aircraft across the guard tanker enterprise

uh thanks congresswoman the tanker fleet air refueling is critical to operations uh anywhere in the world as well as air airlift in general uh is critical and and this is why in the fy twenty seven and the budget submission we are essentially maxing out uh boeing's ability to produce uh at really at the max rate that boeing is capable of producing tankers and our intent our our strategy is to replace all the one thirty five's uh in the fleet uh going forward some of those aircraft are actually older than i am um still flying the same ones that i we flew when i was a young second lieutenant Uh, so we do know we need to replace them and our strategy is to replace all of them. Uh, with respect to to to main exactly phenomenal unit there, they've done great work and they are part of the the next, uh, uh strategic basing decision, uh, that we hope to get out of a narrowing of that field, uh, by September October time frame and I'm sure we'll have more conversations.

Thank you. The location is also s very strategic as as you're well aware.

Yes, yes, Mister Chairman.

Um, it it just let me in the ending say that I associate myself with the comments on Ukraine and the support for Ukraine and giving Ukraine the help it needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and Mister Secretary, I wanna begin where the chairwoman of the full committee just left off, which is on the uh k c forty six's um so thank you all uh for being here today and for your service um i i my question regarding the air force's refueling tanker fleet um it starts with the fact that this war in iran has shown how important these tankers are to successful us and allied operations over the last several years the air force has been carrying k c forty-six tankers to replace the aging k c one thirty-fives currently flown by units like the wisconsin air national guard's one twenty-eighth air refueling wing seven k c one thirty-fives have also been destroyed or damaged in the fighting against iran including one which tragically crashed in iraq losing all six crew members on board For fiscal year twenty seven, the Air Force is requesting three point nine billion dollars to procure fifteen KC forty sixes. Is this request sufficient to cover the lost KC one thirty fives and the necessary upgrades to the tanker fleet?

Uh, thank you, Senator. It was a tragic loss. Um, uh, no question about it. But Ye yes it is uh it is the appropriate amount of money to to build uh the KC forty sixes. Uh essentially, Senator, it's the max rate that Boeing is able to produce the the aircraft. Um so basically we are producing them as fast as we can uh with the intent of replacing again all of the KC one thirty fives uh in the fleet at uh um as we as we build out over the over the coming years uh with respect to the losses there was one aircraft that was a total loss the other six aircraft we believe uh are in the process of being refurbished and will be back in inventory. Uh, but nonetheless, it's an old, these are old aeroplanes we're replacing as quickly as as we can as a contractor can build them.

So you believe the six uh damaged or destroyed aircraft will be returned to service?

Yeah. The the one has been lost, the other six we believe will be returned to service. Is that correct, yeah?

OK. Uh, do you anticipate uh that gap as they are returned to service um and the loss of the other one will impact um what actually how will it impact which uh units the air force will select for upgrades to the k c forty sixes

uh i can uh ask uh general willsbach to ask the impact operations uh it won't uh again it won't necessarily impact the the basing decisions uh although it could potentially be a factor as we go through the strategic basing process so i guess it could potentially depending on how long they take to repair but uh that'll be considered as part of the strategic basing process uh general willsbach with respect to operational impact

and and can you add uh how long you think it will take to refurbish the six aircraft

uh so some of them are already flying In fact, most of them are already flying. Some of them had a one-time flight to have further repair. Uh, but um, uh, some of them are already back in service and then they'll, the ones that had the more significant damage will take um, a year or two to get fixed. Uh, but I anticipate that they'll, they'll be back um, eventually. And as far as the operational impact, certainly after they were initially damaged, we had a very short-term impact to the ability to generate tankers but we surge forward other tankers to fill those gaps and and that's what we're doing now as well so that there's very little impact

ok

um to the tanker loss

ok um next i want to ask you general about the readiness of the air force's f-thirty-five fleet um by all accounts the f-thirty-five has performed well in the war with iran unfortunately only about fifty percent of the fleet was available for operations when the war began. What is the status of Air Force efforts to improve the combat readiness of our F-thirty-fives?

Um, thank you, Senator. Yes, the F-thirty-five has performed marvelously, um, in epic fury. Um, and, um, you're right, the aircraft availability, you know, averages out over the course of time at about fifty percent, but of the jets that we actually had forward performed much greater than that and i don't wanna say the number cause it's classified but it was meeting standards for sure forward what that tells us is that when you prioritize the funding for the parts and the weapon system sustainment the the jet flies really well and that's why um in in this budget we have twenty four billion dollars for weapon system sustainment and uh ten billion for flying hours and four four point five billion for the working capital fund which funds the necessary parts and weapons systems sustainment, uh a large portion of that is for f-thirty-five, but it's for all of our fleets so that we have the parts for the aircraft so when they come back and they need repair our airmen can put the parts in and the jet can get back in the air.

and and in closing uh mr. chairman and madam chairwoman i wanna associate myself with your comments and concerns about the fact that a large part of this request is in the partisan reconciliation measure not in the base budget that we are uh putting together so um i i am very concerned about that you're back

thank you mister chairman uh mister secretary general general thank you for your service uh mister secretary i wanna start with you is not the uh is not the air force global strike command at barksdale air force base the most spectacular thing you've ever seen in your life

uh yes senator i was i was actually when i was active duty i was part of the four runner which was strategic air command so uh it's a it's

when when are we going to address the uh staffing shortfalls there

so so i i'll look to the general for a little bit but we are having

bri briefly

we are we are increasing we are increasing to the tune of about ten thousand uh in the eh the the military strength within the department to try to address some of those uh funding or staffing shortfalls

briefly sure

the the the twenty seven budget has uh dollars in there to increase the end strength uh for the air force um as the secretary noted and uh that will allow us to get after a lot of the shortages that we have the staff at global strike command is uh certainly one of them um other shortages that we have with maintainers etcetera those are all um allow the budget requests will allow us to take care of those.

ok uh general uh before i ask this question i don't like to do it this way but this will be an exception i'm i'm gonna give you a point of view about what's going on around here i know you hear all the happy talk but i'm gonna try to explain what's really going on in my opinion i could be wrong but i doubt it uh the president has pointed out that we need we have a crisis in defense and we need to spend a lot more money i mean look around he is of course correct he's asked for for forty two percent it's gonna be tough in regular order to do that amount uh but republicans wanna spend we haven't come to a final conclusion on the number anywhere from twenty to twenty five twenty seven percent more in the budget on defense uh my democratic friends in the senate and they are my friends have said privately that's swell we want to spend an additional amount of money on welfare now um they're smart people they know that we can't do that and we're not going to do that if if nothing else it would explode the deficit And besides that, as they know, we don't have a crisis in welfare like we have a crisis in defense. It's not like we're not spending a lot of money on welfare. If we would properly define the poverty rate, it wouldn't be ten percent, it would be one percent. And I'm not against helping people less fortunate than I am. I am uh for standing up to China and Russia and North Korea. korea and and you know the other countries i'm talking about now what does that tell me that tells me that the democrats have no intention of of helping us pass a budget and i also predict if i'm wrong i will apologize that my friend senator schumer is gonna shutdown government tight as dick's hat band first chance he gets before the midterms will be shutdown eventually we won't stay shutdown we will come out of it at some point. But how will we'll have to come out of it with a CR? How's that gonna impact your your uh the Air Force's ability to protect this country? Because my democratic friends, and they are my friends, wanna play politics before the midterm elections.