Air Force Posture for FY27 Authorization Request, Future Years Defense Program

Dallas Airport, what's being done to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus? I'm Neil, organ stain. Why some people around here say they're reluctant to visit the ER at DC's newest hospital. I'm Scott Gelman. A rainy afternoon in store, it's ten o'clock. From ABC News. I'm Sherry Preston. Multiple sources confirm that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with Republican senators today as more of them speak out about the I'm a supporter. I think it's a

You can't do that.

If someone is damaged by the federal government right now, there is already a process in place to be able to get restitution for that. So you're about nine minutes. national, national, national, national,

alright the um hearing will come back to order i wanna thank our witnesses for um a uh very informative uh classified session now we begin the public portion of this meeting i welcome back secretary mink general saltzman and general wills bach i thank them uh and their families for their service um the department of the air force has requested three hundred thirty eight point eight billion dollars for the next fiscal year. The figure reflects the fact that deterrence is not free and that weakness invites aggression. Um. Uh, at this point I'm going to submit the rest of my opening statement. For the record, uh, I understand that, um, Senator Reid is at a very important meeting of the appropriations And um, he may very well want to submit his opening statement for the record also. So at this point I thank Secretary Mink, uh, and recognize you, sir, for your opening statement.

Uh, thank you, Chairman Wicker. Uh, thank you, Maria Marie. And distinguished members of the committee, uh, thank you for the opportunity to come here today and talk through the twenty-seven Department of the Air Force, uh, budget, uh, request. i'm proud to represent six hundred and eighty thousand airmen guardian and civilians of the department of the air force as well as their families and loved ones after the events of the last year operation minute hammer absolute resolve and now epic fury i don't think anyone doubts that the space force and the air 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 advances in autonomy adaptive manufacturing ai microelectronics and more give us unique opportunities to drive down cost and drive up effectiveness across the board.

mmm

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 to fight tonight next month next year next decade Unfortunately, for the past twenty-five years, the DAF's budget request has been the smallest relative to GDP in its history. At the same time, the nation has asked more of it. To meet its mission needs, the DAF was forced to shortchange both foundational readiness and much-needed monetization. Fiscal year twenty twenty-seven, President's budget uh breaks that pattern with a three hundred and thirty-eight point eight billion dollar request for the DAF and a thirty-four percent increase over last year. I'll start with our investment 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 increases our foundational readiness investment by thirty-four percent, providing a 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 DAS lien budget over the last years has also resulted in a fifty billion dollar facilities maintenance backlog. Uh, this is compounded by the way we have traditionally done MilKon, which results in cost almost twice what a commercial construction would. To reverse that, the twenty-seven budget requests nearly double the investment in MilKon in facilities sustainment restoration and modernization, which we will couple with the new authorities we've gotten from Congress, Thank you very much. Uh, such as progressive design build. Second, production, particularly of munitions. While we're, 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. We expect thirty nine thousand weapons to be delivered by FY thirty three. We are also developing weapons almost as capable as our high-end munitions, but at a fraction of the cost and at a much higher production rate, which will enable that thirty nine thousand delivery. 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 quickly scale production while still broadening the industry base to ensure competition in the future. That leaves 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 seen much success with our new proliferated space architectures, collaborative combat aircraft, F forty-seven, B twenty-one, and our command and control and battle management systems. The FY twenty-seven request accelerates those successes and applies lessons learned from across the board. To that end, we are transforming acquisition. We are empowering our new Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs, 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 down to the PAEs. We are realigning portfolios to match mission outcomes. Our end state is all DAF acquisitions aligned with the PAE structure to ensure consistent, simplified and rapid decision making across the entire Space Force and Air Force. Finally, our most decisive advantage remains our people. the Airmen and Guardians who make everything possible. This budget invested in them. That includes a five to seven percent pay raise for military, larger bonus pools for incentivizing high-performance civilians, increases to military end strength, and a three hundred percent increase in dormitory investments. In conclusion, this budget represents a disciplined strategy to meet our threats. While FY twenty-seven 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 contracts. Regardless of the final total, we will remain accountable and transparent to Congress and the American taxpayers. Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very, very much, General Wilsbach, you're recognized.

Uh, good morning, Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reid, and 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 for airmen and their families. The 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 the advantages we've relied on before. That reality drives our focus, 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 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 a high tempo across multiple theaters and doing so while preparing to be ready for any future conflict. Our fiscal year, twenty twenty seven budget requests prioritizes restoring depth in our force by increasing funding for flying hours, munitions, 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 fif- 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 Raider, 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 thirty million in MilKon for a total of three billion. We are looking for solutions to meet the housing needs of our families with a request for one point three billion while funding new construction projects to address child care capacity short falls by adding about seventeen hundred 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.

And thank you very much, General Wilsbach. General Salzman.

Thank you, Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reid, 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 the space domain. 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. I know some of the budget percentage increases being considered sound big, but let me put those in perspective. There are at least twenty-five individual military installations inside the United States that each have more personnel than the entire Space Force. And the top ten of those installations are all at least twice the size of our service. And 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 on return of investment for the nation. That investment 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. 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 we believe our future operating environment will look like over the next fifteen years. And then based on that, we designed our objective force structure, which will provide a vector for our services investments to meet the nation's expanding needs and defeat future threats. Increases in the service budget and end strength are national security imperative. That is why the FY twenty-seven budget boosts our top-line by almost a hundred and thirty percent and our end strength by twenty-seven percent. The proposed budget paired with this increase in in-strength will allow the Space Force to recruit and train the guardians we need, build vital bi- excuse me, build vital space capabilities for the joint force and the nation, and provide the support and infrastructure that the mission growth demands. Today we deliberately build 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 warfighting experts. And we are developing our civilian guardians so that they can best provide their unique expertise ensure continuity of operation 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.

Mm-hmm.

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. 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 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, 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 an extended conflict. This includes expanding our resilient missile warning and tracking initiative, that provides a lifesaving alert to troops worldwide, 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 capability require commensurate increases in the structures that support them. So the FY twenty-seven budget request also includes the required MilKon 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. With a continued advocacy from Congress, our guardians stand ready to deter aggression, protect our space-enabled way of life, and have called upon fight and win. As I conclude my final presentation to this committee as the Chief of Space Operations, 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.

Well, thank thank all three of you, and thank you particularly, General Salzman, as you um prepare to uh um move on to another phase of of your career. Uh, for the record, um, Senator Reid was at a meeting of another important committee when we began uh this hearing. Uh, I um submitted my opening statement for the record you are now recognized senator reid

uh this

i will uh adopt the uh wise posture of the chairman and submit my um payment for the record

and and uh uh i think it would be appropriate if you went ahead and and added uh some um um uh very important recognition for uh

well i wanna obviously i wanna recognize and thank general salisbury for his uh service uh remarkable service creating not just shepherding an organization space for so thank you very much sir and gentlemen thank you all for your dedication and please convey our sincere thanks to the men and women both uniformed and civilians who lead thank you

i think that reflects the the feeling of the entire committee i will defer my questions until later again there are other important meetings going on today and members will have to be going in and out but at this point senator Fisher is recognized for questions and and then to be followed by Senator Reid.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and I too would like to thank all of you gentlemen for your service and general Sal Smoley which wish you the best in your future endeavors. Thank you very much. Uh, Secretary Mink, how would the investments proposed in this budget request scale the Air Force munitions production?

Uh, significantly. Uh, I think by the uh, the end of the FIDEPS uh, it will, I think the total procurement is on the order of thirty nine thousand weapon systems. Uh, and we're really taking two kinda paths here. There are a number of the weapon systems that we've had in production for years. We're scaling up those productions. Uh, but at the same time, we're looking at a whole family of much lower cost munitions that we can scale more rapidly. Uh, and are, to be honest, more cost effective uh,

What

in the long run. The combination of those two, is what this budget submission allows us to get after, kind of sustaining

What date, what date will that be? You said by the end of the five day.

Yeah, by the end of the five day. So it'd be uh thirty thirty two, thirty three time frame, thirty nine thousand weapons.

It's a public hearing and I just wanted to make sure our

Uh so so yes, significant

I apologize, Senator Fischer.

significant advancements in the number of weapons, which is critical for both the high end and the low end fight.

Thank you. And General Wilsbach, uh how's the Air Force? rapidly fielding emerging emerging technologies such as uh the counter drone systems that we're all very interested in in order to protect our airmen

Um yes, yes Senator, thank you. Uh so over uh well this this budget request has uh around just over ten billion dollars, and that's um all of the department, not just the Air Force but all the services uh for just uh for just this purpose. Um, and this this year, uh, we're fielding additional systems at some key bases. Uh, uh, one of them is in your home state, uh, and, uh, many other places. We also have fielded, uh, some systems the army has previously deployed to our bases in the Middle East. And, uh, in, uh, as we go through the

And all of those are counter drone?

Yes. Well, counter drone, counter one-way attack, and counter cruise missile. Uh, as well as, uh, as we go into twenty-seven, that will continue to expand. Um, ultimately, uh, Senator, we we should have some system protecting all of our bases, and we'll get to that in future years.

Thank you. Um, Mister Secretary, or General Wilsbach, uh, in the fiscal year twenty twenty seven budget request, it also includes one point four billion dollars for developing collaborative combat aircraft. In this setting, can you explain why we need those CCAs and what progress has been been made so far on developing those systems.

Uh I I think um a short response and turn over to General Wilsbach. Uh the CCAs represents a an extremely cost-effective way to bring combat power into the fight. Essentially they're very low cost fighters uh that uh will operate collaboratively with our our manned aircraft and deliver much more cost effective capabilities General Wilsbach.

Um yes uh Yeah, correct. I agree with the um secretary and uh senator. What what this allows is um additional mass um in the in the target area, in the uh area of engagement um that creates um a number of more problems and dilemmas for your adversary and allows you to allows you to win. Uh the first uh series of collaborative combat aircraft will be designed for air-to-air flight and the future ones we can decide what else uh capabilities they will have. Um, thus far, um, both, we have two vendors that are making aircraft for us. They both had, uh, multiple flights. Uh, the, uh, aut- autonomous systems are working. We're learning from it, uh, and adjusting as we go. Um, but we're very, uh, we're very pleased, um, with the progress.

Good to hear. Uh, General Salzman, the Space Force is requesting a significant increase in funding and in personnel for, uh, FY twenty-seven. Can you explain to not just this committee but to the American people why that uh growth is required and how would the investments propose better position Space Force to operate in this worsening threat environment that we face?

Thank you, Senator. Appreciate that opportunity. I I think it's it's pretty clear that space has become critical to our um economy. It's been critical to our national security and certainly in the joint forces' effectiveness. Uh, the new missions that have been given to the Space Force are gonna require something on the order of about forty new squadrons. That represents an increase of about twenty-eight hundred guardians, and another two thousand civilians, just to do the work of the new missions being added to address these threats and continue to provide the support to the joint force that we've had. Um, the new systems alone are gonna require ten new program offices, uh, to do the acquisition work, to bring those systems, uh, and deliver them to the field. So those growth in the new missions, uh in the uh in the squadrons that are required to operate those systems, is what drives the manpower and the increase in budget for the systems.

Thank you, and thank you again, General, for uh overseeing the vast accomplishments of the Space Force to date. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Senator Fischer. Senator Reid.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh uh, Mr. Secretary, the Air Force is requesting in total an increase in F-thirty-five aircraft and F uh fifteen ex aircraft uh the f thirty five increase would go from twenty four to thirty eight and the f fifteen ex from eighteen to twenty four however all of the increase of fourteen aircraft for the f thirty five production is in uh the reconciliation request not the budget and uh on the other hand all the fifteen ex uh increases are in the discretionary budget That raises the question uh, what will you do if you do not have a successful reconciliation bill?

Uh, uh, thank you uh, thank you, Senator. Yeah, the the department looked at the the as one integrated request. There was no prioritization done between reconciliation and base uh funding. Uh, a again as as we get more data on what the top-line will end up being, uh there will have to be a discussion about how we prioritize um everything we have in the budget is is critical uh we understand that we sometimes have to do prioritization so we will we will we will we will continue to shoot for what we need to do the job but if if the budget's at a lower rate we'll have to work on how we prioritize

well it's an interesting concept because uh usually that uh the department of defense comes to us with their priorities in place representing the president's budget that is given to the this committee not a additional request in the budget committee for reconciliation funds uh that is i think a bad practice to get into and i would uh i think unfortunately i think you're gonna have to make some tough choices and uh with respect to number of aircraft and with respect to other issues um let me just uh switch and mr. secretary and general soliceman um the concept has been that all space assets are in the space force uh that's requires um consolidation from other uh services as well as from the air force to the space force uh mr. secretary uh are we uh how are we well how we doing in that consolidation let me put it that way

well i i think we're we're doing well on the consolidation and the the discussion we just had on the the end strength of the space force needing to grow is is representative of that as as emissions continue to increase uh across the space force they need the people uh to to manage that so i think it's going well but there is gonna be a significant growth in the space force to meet that demand general salzman

ok

i would just add that um which wasn't true five years ago as of today the us space force controls operates one hundred percent of our satellite communications for the military One hundred percent of our missile warning, space-based capabilities and ground-based. Uh, P and T. So we have consolidated. Pulling the space development agency in from out from under OSW proper into the Space Force is another consolidation effect so uh we've taken to heart the fact that the Space Force needs to be accountable for all those programs, and we've done that consolidation.

Uh, what do you consider to be uh still outstanding outside your your scope that you have to bring in?

i don't think there's any uh additional capabilities that currently exist in other services external. I think it's about as all all of our services grow and consider the importance of space, we're gonna have to rightly put it in the right service, uh given the missions that they're uh considering uh to be done from space.

Thank you, sir. Uh, Mr. Secretary, uh, we have been spending billions of dollars in the Persian Gulf and uh we're still waiting for a supplementary to arise which further complicates the budgetary situation uh we're looking at the president's budget reconciliation and a supplemental uh how soon will you need the supplemental funds so you avoid serious readiness problems and other constraints

so the administration is working through the the process uh to to to to address the spending in the golf Uh, the department, as as we do in every year, as we as we get closer to the end of the year is working how we we manage the, essentially manage the cash flow going to the end of the year.

Hmm.

Uh, and we continue to do that, and we will manage it.

Have you uh already, or let me general whiz back, uh what readiness issues have arose in given this uh unexpected or unplanned uh operations in the the wealth?

Uh, Rick, man, read, I I wouldn't say that we've had any arise because of

thank you very much thank you mr. urman

Thank you, Senator Reid. Senator Kramer.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you to, thank you all three of you for being here and for your service. And a special thank you, General Salzman, for your incredible leadership during the, the youthful season of, of that new force. And um, you, you've brought it along nicely and, and we just, we appreciate you very much, more than you probably could know. Um, Mister Secretary, you've talked a little bit, you both, you and General Wilsbach about uh, Sentinel. maybe elaborate a little bit, I because I think just not so many years ago, almost seems like months ago, uh the the dramatic um the dramatic information and data that led to the Nunn-McCurdy uh seemed to almost doom it uh for some people, not not necessarily for people on up here but um. But just as dramatic has been the recovery, it seems to me, and and having been out to Vandenberg with you, having been out to Hill and Promontory, spent a lot of time with General White. i think that that was a stroke of genius to get him uh overseen the the entire modernization effort maybe give us a little bit of a uh a picture of of um that recovery i mean even to the point where um it it looks like we might even be on uh track for accomplishing milestone b this year maybe give us a sense of how all that could be possible in this

so i think it's actually uh uh a good example of what we're trying to do with all the paes the acquisition transformation across the entire department where you put uh uh uh extremely talented uh leadership in charge gave them uh the authorities to help manage the requirements um that was a big part of this is is is working with the requirements community which is quite broad in some of these programs to get down to a set of requirements that are executable with the money and the time line uh making sure the program was funded well uh and then working uh really collaborative with you know this is the largest public works project since the last minima program

mmm

or since the last icbm program so working with uh all the players that are involved in delivering that and they made huge progress we're looking at uh pdr of the program uh this year uh weapon systems testing going on the new modular approach to how we're gonna build silos in the launch control facilities uh basically getting a good team and giving them the ability to to work those requirements to accelerate and make it executable is is what's done the job and then we to be to be properly resource it i i mentioned in my comments that because of the low budget uh flexibility we've had over the last really decades uh there wasn't only readiness cuts made some of these big programs we were probably pretty optimistic on the cost and that that got us into a whole and so we're we're making sure we don't do that anymore

well since you bring it bring that part of it up and i appreciated those comments you me what are the lessons that we've learned and and i'll just give you my sense of bias, uh I maybe we should think about maintaining, you know on a more regular basis, um and modernizing uh systems rather than just do a new one every fifty or sixty years, it's amazing how much institutional knowledge you lose in fifty or sixty years. I mean have we learned, have we learned our lesson?

Uh I believe, I believe we have uh learned our lesson. We we need to make sure we keep remembering those lessons as we go forward. Uh, but you know it's it's always a balance, right? We always always has to be prioritization making made within the programs. We spend a lot of tax taxpayer dollars. We need to make sure we're executing it as efficiently as possible.

Well, we'd let's document it well and and uh uh memorialize it for for future generations. Um, uh as long as I have you talking about acquisition, I I do s- still remain a little bit uh concerned about the lack of meaningful competition in the proliferated low earth uh acquisition efforts. Um, eh no you and i have talked about that but it's my understanding that the the two most recent procurements the amti and the uh space data network were tactically competed however the the timelines the rfi were such that only one was able to really respond maybe help us better understand maybe two things the the need for speed and and and why that might be the case on the one hand and on the other hand what are we doing to um to insure that we're investing in viable second and and third source providers so that we don't end up in some sort of a monopolistic situation or vendor lock

so i'd i'd i do think you you kind of hit our strategy right there there was a need for speed in some of these programs and and just the critical nature of some of these capabilities um has drove us to push in what it what we can get into production right now uh and we're driving that way but on this on the other hand as you mentioned uh both with amti and many of the other programs we are carrying multiple other vendors so that we can grow competition in the first place to make sure we have this continual uh competitive uh industry base going forward uh but what i'd also say is that in in many of the programs uh and again amti is is is example we have multiple contractors that are competing that will deliver and come up to speed in time but uh spi space piece interceptor very broad field and many of the other programs we have a very broad

Sounds like you're balancing the the the message well. It's it's important obviously what we say and and the kind of demand signals we send to industries. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Senator Kramer. Senator King.

Thank you very much, uh, Mr. Chairman. I want to join my colleagues in congratulating you General Salzman on your illustrious career and your years of service. Um, I started out as a skeptic on this committee about the necessity of a space force, and you have largely made me a believer. Uh, I think what you're doing is incredibly important and I think you've pursued it in a very thoughtful, systematic, and and impressive way. Um, I als- I do want to note, uh, that I looked through the budget documents and in both the space force and the air force there's this category called mandatory spending. There is no such thing as mandatory spending except in areas where there is a legal obligation to expend the money. Mandatory spending is a term of art in government budgeting and it refers to principally social security and medicare. There's nothing mandatory about part of your budget. It's being put in this uh budget as a part of reconciliation which is a bypassing of the normal administration of appropriations in the Congress. It's an abdication of the Congress's appropriations responsibility but it's also a usurpation of that, uh, of that. This m- so-called mandatory spending, which is almost twenty percent of the budget that's been proposed, General Salzman, is um, goes through no oversight process, no committee process, no appropriations process, is a purely partisan uh uh process which is inconsistent with the way appropriations have been done here for time time immemorial and since i've been in this body the majority has changed four times and i would suggest to my colleagues that using appropriation uh reconciliation in this way uh is a is a very dangerous precedent now having said that different different subject um mister secretary uh one of the things we've talked about in this committee very frequently is right to repair. And there's been a lot of talk this morning about readiness. One way to improve readiness is to be able to repair our aircraft on, I almost said on the fly, but in the i- i- in the, in the, on the ground without waiting for the manufacturer to send us a part. In my view, we should A, buy the IP for any platform that we buy, and B, we should have three D printers in every hangar. Uh, I hope that this is an area that you will pursue with your procurement uh people because as you know readiness in the air force is is an issue depending upon the airframe fifty sixty percent readiness sometimes higher sometimes lower do you agree with me that we really need to stress uh our ability to to repair our own equipment and to do so on a timely basis

uh uh absolutely senator i and and as we look particularly at the new programs going forward that's a big focus uh to make sure we have that right um uh and and to some degree back to our discussion already uh some of these programs the decisions made were were trying to save costs wherever possible and and those kind of short term decisions did not prove to be cost effective long term uh and we're trying to to be honest we're trying to reverse a lot of that uh now and going forward i i also believe this is an area that you know there's been multiple proposals with respect to congressional language associated with uh access to data rights uh and uh i think all those things are necessary to make sure that going down the road we have that right to be able to do that

i i i hope that you will pursue that actively because uh having a hundred million dollar airplane that can't fly for want of a of a of a valve or a or a part is uh is is uh is malfeasance and so i think that's an important way to attack that that problem. Uh, Mister Secretary, the the the other thing is concerning me is the speed of of adaptation. Uh, we have had a tremendous lesson in Ukraine about adaptation where a country that three or four times as large has now been stopped cold on the battlefield by uh Ukraine's incredible uh uh uh adaptation and and utilization of drone warfare. I fear that we're still stuck in a kind of longer term sclerotic process of procurement and it's gotta be the perfect weapon rather than an eighty percent weapon that we can then innovate uh as we're as we're moving forward. Uh drones and directed energy are two areas that i think we're we're just slow to to adapt we're still knocking down fifty thousand dollar drones with several million dollar missiles and i know we're moving in that direction but i think it's gotta move much much faster we can take a lesson in fact i think we should benchmark against ukraine in terms of productivity level speed of innovation and and cost uh i hope that something you'll take back to the department

yeah absolutely yeah i think you you probably heard me say time and time again that that that we not only have to be innovative we have to innovate faster than all of our potential adversaries or in the end we end up losing

and it's it's

right so that's that's that is our focus going forward

It's the militaries that adopt the new technologies the soonest that win. The Battle of Agincourt is probably one of the best historical examples where the longbow overcame a very vast, sup, supposedly vastly superior French, French army. So, let's remember the Battle of Agincourt. Thank you. Thank you.

I, I hope uh we all agree that the Forged Act has gone quite a long way in um, in moving us away from the previous sclerotic process. Um S um Senator K- um, Senator Kaine.

Thank you, Mister Chair, and thank you to the witnesses, um. One of the costs of the Iran war has been in rising fuel prices. The estimate as of today is that American consumers have paid forty billion dollars more for fuel just because of the Iran war. The estimate is Memorial Day weekend a time when people will drive to see family or drive to the beach is gonna cost about three and a half billion dollars more in fuel costs for Americans just over the coming weekend. And the estimate is that by the end of twenty twenty six, the American public will have paid a hundred and ninety three billion dollars in excess fuel costs because of the Iran war, based on projections. In the preparation of the of the president's budget i know the way it's done the different units for example air force space force do budget submissions and those work their way up through the chain of command and to the office of management and budget um my understanding is the president's budget submitted to us did not include any costs that were cost related to the iran war because the it had largely been prepared and submitted through this budgetary chain of command before the Iran war started. There is a portion of the Air Force budget that is a big portion that's the purchase of aviation fuel. And I'm assuming that in the Air Force budget, the aviation fuel number was based upon a supposed or predicted price for fuel. Um, can you tell me, General or Secretary, what the budget price for aviation fuel is in the p b and what it actually is today because as we're grappling with writing this bill we're gonna have to take into account the new reality um the the on the commercial side i've been reading that avian aviation fuel has increased by about fifty percent but how about in terms of the president's budget for the air force for fuel purchases and compare the budget to what the current number is please

Yes, Senator. Um, so we did account for an increased uh flying hour cost uh from last year to, or from twenty-six to twenty-seven. Um, and uh you're, you know, like you said, we we figure that number bef- you know, well before the market determines what the actual cost will be. Um, some t- some years it's more, some years it's less. Um, and so we uh, we will um, adjust our dollars if we end up having to pay more per dollar for a gallon of Um, if it ends up being more than than we assessed.

Do you know what the assumed per gallon cost was in the PB that we're analyzing right now?

Uh, the increased cost in flying hours, uh, was roughly about a ten, I believe it's about a ten percent increase of what we anticipated from last year to this year. So.

So you took last year and you again just kind of,

I- if we

you know,

we did. And that's what we do every year.

proposed an increase by about ten percent.

Yes.

If what I'm reading is accurate, that on the. commercial side aviation fuel has increased by about fifty percent um since february twenty eight uh would would that be similar to what the prices for aviation fuel necessary for air force operations would be

well the current the current market price isn't necessarily what we paid because we bought the fuel in the past