[Senate Hearing 108-176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004
----------
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2003
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Stevens (chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Stevens, Cochran, Domenici, Shelby,
Burns, Inouye, Dorgan, and Durbin.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Air Force
STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES G. ROCHE, SECRETARY OF THE AIR
FORCE
ACCOMPANIED BY GENERAL JOHN P. JUMPER, AIR FORCE, CHIEF OF STAFF
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TED STEVENS
Senator Stevens. Secretary Roche, General Jumper, truly the
eyes of the world are upon you, and we have witnessed with awe
the professionalism of the Air Force and the planning that you
have done. All Americans I think are very proud of you; some
may disagree with the decision to go there, but I don't think
there is anyone that is not proud of our men and women in
uniform and those working with them in civilian life in the
Department of Defense.
These combat missions in Iraq are really telling an amazing
story of the times that you and your predecessors have been
before this committee asking for taxpayers' money to make
certain that you had the type of equipment that you could use
if and when the Commander in Chief asked you to perform the
duties that you are now performing.
I think the whole country is proud of you as I've said, but
I think we are very proud that you are where you are now,
because we know you all and we've worked with you and we know
that you really have in mind the safety of those men and women
that are under your command.
We now begin the review of the fiscal year 2004 budget,
that's what we're talking about today. There is now pending
before us a supplemental request for fiscal year 2003 for the
operations in Iraq and the war on terrorism. That will not be
the subject of the discussion here today. We do believe that
the missions that you are performing today might change this
budget as we go down the line, as far as what's needed in
fiscal year 2004, and we will listen respectfully to any
changes that you might wish to make now or later in your fiscal
year 2004 request.
We personally look forward, I do, to hearing your
statements today and knowing the priorities in the budget
request for fiscal year 2004. I do expect and hope we will hear
your urgent plea for action on the supplemental, which I hope
to get passed before we leave on the Easter recess. And as you
may know, I have made the statement to our Commander in Chief
that if we don't finish by the time for our recess, I don't
think we should leave Washington until we do finish the
supplemental. It's that important, I believe, to the men and
women wearing our uniform around the world.
We will make your statements part of the record in full, I
look forward to your statements today, and before you proceed,
let me call on my good friend from Hawaii, my co-chairman.
Senator Inouye. I want to thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman. Mr. Secretary, General Jumper, I join my chairman in
welcoming you once again to testify before this committee.
Let me join my chairman in saying how proud and supportive
we are of the work done by the men and women of the Air Force
in support of the global war on terrorism and the current
mission in Iraq. I can join my chairman in assuring you that
this committee will do all it can to support the Department's
effort.
Senator Stevens. Senator Burns, do you have a statement?
STATEMENT OF SENATOR CONRAD BURNS
Senator Burns. Mr. Chairman, I just want to echo our
feelings, I think I, along with the rest of my colleagues and
you, try to offer our men and women who are wearing the uniform
right now, especially the Air Force, not only have the training
and the equipment to complete the mission that we have, and
also get them home safely. We are very supportive of your
organization, your leadership, and of course the role that all
people are playing right now who wear the uniform of this
country and believe in the same precepts that we do.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
Senator Stevens. Senator Dorgan.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR BYRON L. DORGAN
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Chairman, let me echo the comments you
have made and my other two colleagues, Mr. Secretary, and
especially to the men and women who serve under you for your
service to our country. I'm going to have to go to the floor of
the Senate for about 15 to 20 minutes at 10:30, but I want to
come back. I do have a series of questions I want to ask. And
again, it's always a great opportunity to hear from General
Jumper, and thank you for your service.
Senator Stevens. Let me remind the committee that we have
these high tech microphones now, and you have to push the
button, but the light shows underneath it rather than on top.
Be sure you turn it on when you're going to speak.
Secretary Roche, we should all have a moment of silent
prayer for the souls of those who have already lost their lives
in this endeavor, and I do hope you will agree that we should
just stand here in a moment of silence before we begin this
testimony.
Secretary Roche. I would be honored, Mr. Chairman.
[A moment of silence was observed.]
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much.
Those visions on the television bring back memories to
Senator Inouye and myself, and I think others on this
committee, so we do welcome you today and look forward to your
testimony.
Secretary Roche. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I think
I've got the button pushed correctly and it's working.
Thank you, sir, and thank you, Senator Inouye and members
of the committee for this opportunity. It is my great honor to
join my colleague General John Jumper today, to represent the
700,000 active, guard, reserve and civilian airmen who are
engaged in defending our nation and serving our interests
around the globe. We are very proud of their honorable service
and unshakable dedication, from combat operations and homeland
defense to the daily efforts that guarantee the readiness,
health, security and morale of our force.
In our travels around the Air Force, as you have traveled
around to many of our bases, we have been impressed and humbled
by the creativity of our airmen, their commitment and their
professionalism.
As we appear before you today, we have close to 50,000
airmen serving at some 50 expeditionary bases in more than 35
countries, plus another 60,000 airmen currently assigned
overseas. We have over 43,000 airmen in the area of operations
as of today. They are fighting the war on terrorism and
defending our Nation's interests even as we speak.
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Air Force has fully
integrated into a joint and coalition force conducting combat
operations in support of our strategic and campaign objectives.
The combined forces' air component commander, Air Force
Lieutenant General Buzz Moseley, who many of you in the Senate
know, commands almost 2,000 Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and
coalition aircraft in a single combined air operation center in
Southwest Asia.
AIR POWER
The air picture in this operation center shows the dense
presence of air power over the entire country of Iraq. If we
could have a camera looking down from far far overhead, with a
blue dot for every American airplane over Iraq, I think you
would be pleased to see the incredible coverage of air power
over that country supporting the forces on the ground and
supporting key objectives. We are targeting the Iraqi regime,
Saddam's command and control systems, weapons of mass
destruction, security apparatus in the regular forces, who have
often used brutal oppression and treachery to sustain the
regime, and the Iraqi military forces engaged against our
marines, soldiers and airmen on the ground.
Our first and parallel campaign, to support the suppression
of enemy air defenses, Scud hunting, and information operations
have and will continue to enable the maneuver of maritime and
special operations forces to operate under the umbrella of air
dominance throughout the theater.
Our extended preparation of battle space since last summer,
consisting of nearly 4,000 combat sorties and year of planning
has resulted in unprecedented flexibility in achieving decisive
effects. The 10 years that we've been in Operation Northern
Watch and Operation Southern Watch have provided us with crews,
about 70 to 75 percent of whom are combat experienced as they
enter into this conflict.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to note that to date, the Iraqi
Air Force has not flown a single sortie against coalition
forces or the Iraqi people. This is airspace dominance. This is
what General Jumper has been working on for his whole life,
this is what he promised, and we are delivering. This is what
we pledged to deliver to our combatant commanders and to our
Nation, should the President call upon us to do so. Mr.
Chairman, you are quite right, they have performed superbly,
along with their colleagues on the ground and at sea.
TRANSFORMATION
As we prepare for future uncertainty, we fully support the
Department's continuing efforts to balance near-term readiness
and operational requirements with long-term transformation of
our Armed Forces. Our challenge is to fight the global war on
terrorism while simultaneously transforming, and we must do
both.
Now while we face near-term budget pressures, we
nevertheless must invest for the future. Otherwise, we may be
forced to pay more later in dollars and perhaps even in lives.
Of utmost importance to us is our continued focus on
warfighting and delivering a full spectrum of air and space
capabilities to combatant commanders. Through the efforts of
this committee, your colleagues in the Congress, and Secretary
Rumsfeld, I am proud to report that we are currently meeting
these objectives.
HOMELAND DEFENSE
We have some good news to report on calendar year 2002, Mr.
Chairman. It was a year of challenging operations. In calendar
year 2002 we continued our expanded homeland defense mission,
providing 25,000 fighter, tanker and airborne warning sorties.
This was made possible only through the mobilization of over
30,000 airmen in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.
They have conducted over 75 percent of all the Noble Eagle
missions and they have done it superbly.
Today we continue this effort, in fact it's a heightened
effort, with more than 200 military aircraft dedicated to
providing combat air patrols, for on-call support to high risk
areas, cities and key facilities in the United States. In
Operation Enduring Freedom, we made joint operations on a
landlocked nation possible. We flew more than 40,000 sorties,
over 70 percent of the coalition air operations, in 2002 alone,
and of our 8,000 refueling missions we are proud to point out
that 55 percent were to Navy and Marine Corps, and coalition
aircraft.
AFGHANISTAN
In Afghanistan, our special operations teams developed new
ways to bring air and space power to bear in a variety of
engagements. Our combat controllers integrated new technologies
and precision weapons to do close air support from 39,000 feet,
using B-1 and B-52 bombers, and at lower altitudes for our Air
Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighter bombers. And we're now
developing better processes to target and engage time-critical
moving targets.
IRAQ
Yesterday, Mr. Chairman, we flew 648 Air Force missions in
Iraq, over Iraq. Our colleagues in the Navy and Marine Corps
also flew many hundred missions. To date, in the last 5 days of
this conflict, sir, we have flown over 4,800 sorties over Iraq.
That includes bombers, fighters, our Combat Search and Rescue
(CSAR) and special operators, and our Command, Control,
Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C\2\ISR), as well
as tankers and cargo aircraft. So we have been working quite
hard.
B-1
Continuous improvements in readiness and technology made
these successes possible. With your support we successfully
consolidated our B-1 bomber fleet and improved overall
readiness. Its mission-capable rate was up 10 percent last year
and is now over 71 percent, the highest in history, and we are
proud to point out, Mr. Chairman, that the B-1 has flown over
Baghdad with 24 weapons on each sortie, 24 highly precise
weapons on each sortie.
C-5
The increases funded by this committee and the Congress
that you have supported is paying off well. Sixteen of 20
weapons systems improved mission-capable rates last year. The
C-5B achieved its highest mission-capable rate since 1994, it's
now at 73 percent. The B-2 improved over 50 percent.
A-10 AND F-15 AIRCRAFT
The A-10, a workhorse working with our Army ground forces
right now, is up 8 percent, and our F-15s are up over 5
percent. These are the best mission-capable rates we have
experienced in 5 years and the best annual increases we've
achieved since the mid-1980s.
Mr. Chairman, while we are making great progress in
adapting the Air Force, we face many challenges to our
continued superiority as you are well aware. The increasing
proliferation of advanced surface-to-air missile systems
threatens our ability to gain and maintain air superiority in
potential conflicts. Manned portable surface-to-air missiles
have proliferated extensively, and in fact new ballistic
missile and cruise missile technologies are spreading.
RUSSIAN SU-37
An advanced fighter has already been produced, specifically
the Russian SU-37, that is superior to our best fighter, a
prototype that has not yet been explored.
We are also now facing the undeniable reality that other
nations are investing in American military technologies and
fielding the best our aerospace industry has to offer in their
air forces. While the investment of our good friends and allies
is a great value to our alliances and industrial base, superior
capabilities are now or shortly will be present in American-
produced airplanes that don't fly the American flag. And I
remind you, sir, that in the late 1930s, the aerospace industry
of America, 38 percent of its sales were overseas sales,
because they did not have enough of a market here in the United
States, and some of the best technology was in fact being
exported to other countries in the late 1930s, and some of that
technology, regrettably, we had to face in combat.
AGING AIRCRAFT
Now while other nations are modernizing, we continue to
employ aging systems that are becoming more difficult to
operate and more expensive to maintain. The average age of the
operational Air Force fleet is over 22 years per aircraft. Even
with planned aircraft procurements, the total fleet average age
is expected to increase to 27 years by the year 2020.
We benchmark this by noting how many of existing aircraft
that are flying, Mr. Chairman, were flying prior to my being
commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy, or prior
to General Jumper being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the
United States Air Force. And you should know, all of our tanker
aircraft that are flying today were flying before General
Jumper was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, and a goodly
number of the E models were flying when I was commissioned an
Ensign. I'm old, but these planes are older.
In the way ahead, our proposed fiscal year 2004 budget
addresses a number of our challenges and supports the
Department's priorities. It accelerates our modernization and
joint capabilities and maintains the gains in readiness and
people programs that we achieved last year. Most importantly,
it gets money into our procurement programs and funds essential
capabilities our warfighters need.
I strongly request that you support these major programs so
that we can get our costs out and we can get reliability up.
MANPOWER
Our number one investment priority remains our people. The
budget fully supports our authorized total force end strength,
funds our education and force development initiatives, puts us
on track to eliminate inadequate housing, and reduces out-of-
pocket housing expenses on schedule with Secretary Rumsfeld's
objectives.
We appreciate your continued support of pay raises for our
uniformed and civilian airmen, and they truly, truly appreciate
the way this has been done, with the disproportionate amounts
going to our most senior enlisted.
READINESS
Our readiness budget increases by 6 percent. It funds an
expanded $6 billion flying hours program, and sustains the
positive trends we've achieved in our readiness rates.
Our proposal increases our infrastructure investment
compared to the fiscal year 2003 requested level and keeps us
on track to meet the Department's goal of a 67 year
recapitalization rate by fiscal year 2008.
F/A-22
Finally, I'm proud to report our proposed budget increases
investment in new technologies by 5 percent over last year.
Next year we will fund 20 F/A-22s with new crew, continuing our
move to sustained production rate. The program is improving and
the Raptor is currently meeting or exceeding all key
performance related requirements. We have a structure to do
upgrade spirals to focus on developing systems with inherent
air-to-ground capabilities, and have recently delivered our
initial production aircraft to Nellis Air Force Base.
Now we are experiencing some difficulties with the new
program, and this is one that is dramatically dependent on
software, one of the greatest advances in aviation in our
history. The software integration and test is an issue that we
are battling through. Mr. Chairman, General Jumper and I
personally got involved in this program in July of last year,
and in the course of those 8 months we have airplanes now
either being delivered on time or early. We have taken care of
all foreign object damage production techniques that were
happening with the contractor, we have fixed the problem of fin
buffet, we are making test forms across the board, both in
terms of flying test points, logistic test points.
We have basically narrowed down what needs to be done to
push this aircraft through to completion, and the software
stability is something we're working on very, very hard. It
represents the classic challenge of transitioning from
development to production, and when something is this software-
dependent, it is very difficult to bring everything together,
and then when we bring it together, we try and make it work.
What is different about the program, Mr. Chairman, is we
now have a more realistic cost-estimating regime and a far
better management team in place to anticipate the likely
challenges we will face.
We remain committed to our F/A-22 buy-to-budget strategy,
and will maximize the number of aircraft we procure within the
pre-established budget caps. This serves as an insurance policy
for the taxpayer and an incentive for the Air Force and our
industry suppliers to get it done right. With your support, we
will continue to deliver the only operational system we will
field this decade that puts iron on the enemy.
And if I may add, Mr. Chairman, we are dedicated to
bringing the system on line because it will alter how we fight.
If we can't, John Jumper and I will be the first to recommend
to Secretary Rumsfeld that this program be terminated. We ask
you to give us a chance to deliver the system, a system about
which you would be very proud, a system that will parallel the
C-17, a program that almost died, almost died, and almost died,
and is now being the absolute workhorse of this battle.
More cuts and restrictions at this juncture will only
increase inefficiencies and costs. We need a blessed year or
two of stability to be able to bring this home.
Mr. Chairman, we are also working with Secretary Rumsfeld
and our colleagues to implement a range of sensible management
practices that we believe will help minimize obstacles to a
path of effective future administration of the Department. In
particular, we are looking at measures to transform our
personnel, acquisition, administrative and range management
practices.
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
And yes, Mr. Chairman, we absolutely support your point on
the supplemental. Sixty two point some billion dollars is
something that we can't take out of hide, clearly. We see
ourselves going broke sometime in the early summer. We believe
that this is a reasonable estimate of what we need to go
forward, and we certainly agree with you that having the
supplemental dealt with by Easter would be a dramatic boon to
our forces because we would be able to deal with the problem
that we have been cash flowing expenditures because of the war,
leaving us with a number of gaps, and adjusting those gaps with
a supplemental would be a major issue.
We thank you for the investments you've made in our future,
for the trust that you have placed in our concerted effort to
provide America with aerospace dominance.
Mr. Chairman, if I may, it is my distinct pleasure to come
to work every day and work with the finest colleague I have
ever worked with, John Jumper. Thank you.
Senator Stevens. General Jumper.
General Jumper. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Inouye, it
is a pleasure to be before this distinguished committee again
this year and to be able to talk about our great United States
Air Force. And your airmen, Mr. Chairman, are proud to stand
beside the soldiers, sailors and marines engaged in the
conflict that commands all of our attention today.
Let me add also what a pleasure it is for our United States
Air Force to have this veteran sailor who sits beside me here
today, a graduate of the United States Navy after 23 years and
a commander of a ship, it's a pleasure to have someone who
brings command responsibility and the understanding of command
and warfare to our United States Air Force. He has graduated
from an ancient mariner to an elder airman, and he has made
that transition very well, sir, and I am very proud to serve
with him.
MISSION CAPABLE RATES
Sir, I would say in the present operations, we are seeing
mission-capable rates on our platforms over there between 80
and 90 percent. This has been enabled by the attention this
committee has paid over the last few years to get the parts and
the assets to the people out there who fix these airplanes.
C-17
The secondary effect is the effect it has on retention and
recruiting. When you get the part to the airman on the flight
line to fix the airplane, you have just given that airman our
vote that we care about what he does, and that translates
directly into retention rates and we are enjoying some of the
highest retention rates in the Air Force that we've seen for a
very long time for our experienced airmen. So, I thank you for
all the attention over the years you have paid to that and as
the Secretary pointed out, the C-17 example, we have seen that
great program mature into an aircraft that we just could not do
without in this current conflict.
We have also seen support from this committee on a new
series of weapons like the Joint Direct Attack Munitions
(JDAM), and I'm happy to report that having found the Global
Positioning System (GPS) jammers in and around Baghdad, we were
able to take those jammers out with GPS-aided bombs, the JDAM,
the very bomb the jammer was designed to defeat, because it was
such a great weapon.
OPERATION NOBLE EAGLE
As the Secretary pointed out, we don't do this alone. In
Operation Noble Eagle, over 80 percent of the effort that goes
in to patrolling the skies over America is done by our National
Guard and Reserve. Although today we have the 388th Fighter
Wing from Hill Air Force Base flying Combat Air Patrols (CAPs)
as we speak over Washington D.C., over 80 percent of those on a
day-to-day basis are performed by the Guard and Reserve, and
most of those over the United States today are in fact done by
the Guard and Reserve.
KC-135
As my boss pointed out, we're also dealing with the effects
of an aging force and all you have to do is go out to Tinker
Air Force Base and see the corrosion that is eating away at our
KC-135 fleet to be convinced that you cannot fly airplanes
forever. And we will continue to try to do our best to replace
the worst of those airplanes as soon as we can.
F/A-22
I would also add, sir, to my boss's description of the F/A-
22, in addition to the data he has provided, we also have
talked to the pilots on a day-to-day basis, and the pilots who
are out flying the airplane come back with stories of the most
magnificent increase in combat capability that they have
imagined. The airplane is performing superbly all of the things
that we need the most, the super cruise, the stealth qualities,
and as the boss pointed out, we still have to work on the
software integration problem, but we have devoted our full
attention to this, the Secretary and I, and we see a way
through this. And again, I add my plea for program stability as
we go into the future.
There are many other things that are transformational that
are ongoing with regard to space and other weapons developments
that we're excited about, but the thing that we're most excited
about is our people. And you all get to travel around, you get
to see our people in action out there on the flight lines and
in operation, and I think we can all be very proud of the young
Americans we're putting out there.
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE
One of the things I like to do is go to Lackland Air Force
Base on Fridays. Every Friday we bring in a thousand new airmen
into our Air Force, and they parade by and it's a wonderful
ceremony. But a fun thing to do is to go sit in a dark corner
somewhere and watch the youngsters get back with their parents
after their parents haven't seen them for several weeks. And if
you look hard enough, after every ceremony, you will see some
young airman standing in front of his or her mother or father
saying yes, mom, it is me, because the parents don't even
recognize the kid they dropped off just a few short weeks ago.
And the dad's standing back saying this ain't my kid, this kid
is standing up straight, saying ma'am and sir, but it is.
SOUTHWEST ASIA
And you go out there and you see them in action. I was
recently at a base in Southwest Asia and I was approached by a
young captain combat engineer with his chief master sergeant,
who came up and saluted, and said, sir, I'm building this
runway. And he's over there building a runway, not a minor
project by any standard. And he says, sir, I started this
runway a while ago, they're trying to send me home in a couple
of weeks because I'm due to rotate. I'm here to tell you, the
chief and I are here to tell you that we're not leaving until
this runway is done, this is my runway. And that's the way they
feel and operate, and we see it out there all the time. It is
something for us all to be proud of.
I love to talk to World War II veterans, you all know this,
but some of them don't know that this generation when properly
motivated are every bit as dedicated and patriotic as any
generation that ever served, and I'm proud to be a part of
that.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me just make one note about the
United States (U.S.) Air Force Academy. The Secretary and I
have devoted personal attention--you notice that there have
been no spokesmen on this issue. This is an issue we're taking
on personally. Your constituents out there who come to you and
ask for nominations to the United States Air Force Academy need
to know that it's a safe place to go, that it's a place where
we devote our full energy to developing officers of high
character and high moral standards.
PREPARED STATEMENT
We will implement a set of corrections at the Air Force
Academy that will return us to those high standards, and again,
the Secretary and I will personally oversee their
implementation and returning the United States Air Force
Academy to the superb institution that it really is.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to your questions.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of James G. Roche and General John P. Jumper
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the Air Force has an
unlimited horizon for air and space capabilities. Our Service was borne
of innovation, and we remain focused on identifying and developing the
concepts of operations, advanced technologies, and integrated
operations required to provide the joint force with unprecedented
capabilities and to remain the world's dominant air and space force.
The Wright brothers' historic flight in 1903 ushered in the dawn of
a dramatic era of scientific, cultural, and technological advances. As
the Air Force celebrates this centennial of powered flight, we do so
with the recognition that, despite the daunting challenges of a more
dynamic security environment, the next hundred years will witness
equally fantastic achievements. The 2003 Air Force Posture Statement
reflects this optimism. In this report, we relate some of our
accomplishments of 2002 as well as our vision of an innovative and
adaptive force capable of guaranteeing American air and space dominance
for the decades to come. Our successes are America's successes; they
are the direct result of the selfless and unconditional service by men
and women of the Total Air Force and their families.
During the past year, and in the midst of combat and a variety of
contingency operations, we evaluated, implemented, and validated a host
of technological advances, organizational changes, and concepts of
operations. These enabled us to deliver desired effects faster and with
greater precision than at any time in the history of warfare. Such
adaptation is characteristic of our Service, as airmen continually
strive to push innovation ever forward en route to unprecedented air
and space capabilities for combatant commanders, the joint force, and
our Nation. In the year ahead, we will move our expeditionary Air Force
closer to realizing the transformational imperatives of this new era,
machine-to-machine digital integration of manned, unmanned and space
assets, and joint command and control. Our concepts of operations
leverage this integration, and expand our asymmetric advantages in air
and space--advantages that are fundamental to defending America's
interests, assuring our allies and coalition partners, and winning the
Nation's wars.
We recognize the responsibility for America's security is not one
we shoulder alone. We work tirelessly toward developing and training
professional airmen, transitioning new technologies into warfighting,
and integrating the capabilities of our sister services, other
government agencies, and those of our friends abroad to act in the most
efficient and effective manner across all operations--from humanitarian
to combat missions. At the same time, we pay special attention to the
consolidating aerospace industry, our acquisition processes, and our
critical modernization challenges, to ensure we will be able to draw
upon our core competencies for decades to come.
Blessed with full endorsement from the American people, the
Congress, and the President, we will remain the world's dominant Air
Force. We are honored to serve with America's airmen, and we sincerely
appreciate the confidence in our commitment and capability to provide
our great nation with superiority in air and space.
INTRODUCTION
As America approaches the 100th anniversary of powered flight, the
Air Force realizes that the nation is only in the adolescence of air
and space capabilities. Yet we envision a future that will manifest
dramatic advances in propulsion, operational employment, weapons
systems, information technology, education, and training for our air
and space forces. It is a future of unprecedented, seamless integration
of air and space capabilities with joint command and control at the
operational level of war, and machine-to-machine integration at the
tactical level. We are pursuing these changes--some elementary, others
revolutionary--which will dramatically escalate the capabilities
available to the joint forces of the United States, perpetuate American
air and space dominance, and redefine the nature of warfare.
If there was any ambiguity about the nature of the security
environment in this new century, the attacks of September 11, 2001
crystallized the setting. Just as the turmoil of the previous decade
eluded prediction, the dynamic setting of the decades ahead poses even
greater predictive challenges as centers of power and sources of
conflict migrate from traditional origins. No longer will it suffice to
prepare for real and perceived threats from nation-states. Instead,
America must apply the sum of our operational experiences and
experimentation to develop dynamic, flexible, and adaptable forces,
capable of dissuading, deterring, and defeating a much wider range of
potential adversaries, while still assuring our friends and allies.
This fluid setting underscores the need for doctrinal agility, and
expeditious and responsive acquisition, planning, and execution across
the spectrum of capabilities in support of homeland security--from the
most difficult anti-access scenario to humanitarian relief. As new
generations of technology proliferate among potential adversaries, we
also are reminded of the need to keep pushing technology forward. In
less than one hundred years, we elevated from a Kitty Hawk biplane
flying 100 feet on a 12-second flight, to a host of sophisticated,
stealthy aerial vehicles capable of reaching any place in the world,
and an array of satellites that circle the globe continuously. We do
not rest on these achievements, but instead engage a new generation of
innovation. Therefore, our mission is to make calculated research,
development, and procurement decisions with the resolve to integrate
all of our combat, information, and support systems into an enterprise
architecture that contributes joint air and space capabilities to help
win the Nation's wars.
Meeting these requirements also warrants our continued
transformation into an expeditionary force with the culture,
composition, and capabilities to fulfill our evolving operational
tasks. As the scope of global contingencies requiring American
involvement has multiplied, we have witnessed the substantial value of
agility, rapid response, and integration. Thus, we are becoming ever
more responsive in time, technology, and training, and in the process,
we are elevating Air Force contributions to joint capabilities, while
developing our airmen as joint warfighters.
A year ago, Secretary Rumsfeld laid out a number of key priorities
for the Department of Defense (DOD). All of these--from pursuing the
global war on terrorism and strengthening joint warfighting
capabilities, to streamlining the DOD processes and improving
interagency integration--demand across-the-board changes in the way the
Defense Department operates. The Air Force has taken advantage of this
opportunity to evaluate and strengthen our capabilities, and to
fundamentally drive our investment strategy.
As we contemplate more than a decade of unprecedented success using
air and space power, we recognize that we never fight alone. The
emerging interdependence of joint, coalition, and alliance partnerships
throughout a decade of contingency warfare has been a profound lesson
learned. Through cooperative planning, we will realize the full
potential of our Service--bringing to bear fully integrated air and
space capabilities.
It is our imperative to approach this planning and integration with
innovation and vision, fundamentally focused on capabilities. All of
the armed forces are focusing on meeting the Quadrennial Defense
Review's ``1-4-2-1'' force-shaping construct, by defining the
fundamental capabilities required to meet the challenges of a changing
world. These are: to defend the United States through Homeland
Security; to deter aggression and coercion in the four critical regions
of Europe, Northeast Asia, Southwest Asia and the Asian littorals; to
swiftly defeat aggression in overlapping major conflicts while being
capable of decisive victory in one of those conflicts; and to conduct a
number of smaller scale contingencies. A revitalized, capabilities-
focused approach to operational military requirements will allow us to
meet these missions.
Our focus on capabilities for an uncertain future has inspired us
to adapt a new the way we organize, train, and equip our forces. We
have begun by developing Task Force Concepts of Operations (TF CONOPS),
which will define how we will fight and integrate our air and space
capabilities with joint, coalition, and alliance forces. The
requirements that emerge from these operational concepts will guide a
reformed acquisition process that will include more active, continuous
partnerships among requirement, development, operational, test, and
industry communities working side-by-side at the program level.
This process can only be successful with the help of a vibrant
defense industry. Yet today the aerospace industry is consolidating to
a point that threatens to diminish the advantages of competition. This,
in turn, can lead to loss of innovation, diminished technical skill
base, lower cost efficiencies, and other challenges. We must foster
increased competition to ensure the long-term health of an industrial
sector critical to our national security. While the Air Force will
continue to advance the vision and associated capabilities for air and
space, we also must challenge industry in order for it to stay on the
cutting edge of technology and efficient management practices.
Finally, transforming our force will not be possible without a
process to educate, train, and offer experience to the right mix of
Active Duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and civilian airmen
who understand the nature of our changing security environment. To
achieve this, we will evolve what we have traditionally called the
``personnel'' function in new ways so as to blend Professional Military
Education, advanced academic degrees, and assignment policies under the
auspices of ``Force Development.''
This is the United States Air Force in 2003--inherently innovative,
tirelessly dedicated, and comprised of the very best airmen and
capabilities in the world to ensure American security and defend her
interests. This is what our nation expects, and we will continually
meet that expectation.
WHAT WE DO
The United States armed forces exist to fight and win our Nation's
wars, which no service can accomplish alone. The Air Force's pivotal
role is to deliver fully capable and integrated air and space power to
the Joint Force Commander (JFC). By dominating the media of elevation,
the Air Force offers unique warfighting capabilities that leverage the
strengths of surface forces and expand the range of potential effects.
Air and space are realms with unlimited horizons for discovery and
development. While the Air Force has made tremendous strides in
realizing the visions of early airmen and exploiting the operational
potential in each medium, we know there is an array of capabilities as
yet undiscovered. As the Air Force strives to realize these
possibilities, we deliver a multitude of air and space achievements for
joint warfighting.
Although relatively short, Air Force history reveals fundamental
competencies that are core to developing and delivering air and space
power--those unique institutional qualities that set the Air Force
apart from the other services and any other military force in the
world. By identifying and keeping these competencies foremost in our
vision, we are able to more effectively advance the unique
capabilities, as well as the ultimate effects, the Air Force provides
to the joint force and the Nation.
The Air Force continually develops areas of expertise that make us
the preeminent air and space force in the world. Previously, we
distilled these into six distinctive capabilities which we referred to
as our ``core competencies''--Air and Space Superiority, Global Attack,
Rapid Global Mobility, Precision Engagement, Information Superiority,
and Agile Combat Support. However, just as our concepts of operations
and capabilities continuously evolve, so also does the way in which we
articulate Air Force competencies. With deeper refinement, we learned
there are more fundamental elements to what we are as an Air Force and
how we develop our capabilities for joint warfighting. These are our
underlying institutional air and space core competencies--those that,
in fact, make the six distinctive capabilities possible: Developing
Airmen, Technology-to-Warfighting, and Integrating Operations. These
three air and space core competencies form the basis through which we
organize, train, and equip and from which we derive our strengths as a
service.
(1) Developing Airmen--The heart of combat capability
The ultimate source of air and space combat capability resides in
the men and women of the Air Force. The potential of technology,
organization, and strategy are diminished without professional airmen
to leverage their value. Our Total Force of Active Duty, Guard,
Reserve, and civilian personnel are our largest investment and most
critical asset. They are airmen, steeped in our expeditionary Service
ethos. Therefore, from the moment they step into the Air Force through
their last day of service, we are dedicated to ensuring they receive
the precise education, training, and professional development necessary
to provide a quality edge second to none. The full spectrum
capabilities of our Air Force stem from the collective abilities of our
personnel; and the abilities of our people stem from career-long
development of professional airmen.
(2) Technology-to-Warfighting--The tools of combat capability
The vision of airmen in employing air and space power fundamentally
altered how we address conflict. As the leader in military application
of air and space technology, the Air Force is committed to innovation
and possesses a vision to guide research, development, and fielding of
unsurpassed capabilities. Just as the advent of aircraft revolutionized
joint warfighting, recent advances in low observable technologies,
space-based systems, manipulation of information, precision, and small,
smart weapons offer no less dramatic advantages for combatant
commanders. The Air Force nurtures and promotes its ability to
translate vision into operational capability in order to produce
desired effects. Our innovative operational concepts illuminate the
capabilities we need, allowing us to develop unsurpassed capabilities
to prevail in conflict and avert technological surprise.
The F/A-22 is demonstrative of this ability to adapt technology to
warfighting capabilities. Originally envisioned as an air superiority
fighter, it has been transformed into a multi-role system. The F/A-22
not only brings to bear warfighting capabilities without equal for
decades to come, but also includes those we did not foresee at its
inception. Collectively, the platform's supercruise, stealth,
maneuverability, and novel avionics will deliver the ability to create
crucial battlefield effects to the hands of the warfighter, and allow
access to revolutionary concepts of operations.
(3) Integrating Operations--Maximizing combat capabilities
Effectively integrating the diverse capabilities found in all four
services remains pivotal to successful joint warfighting. The Air Force
contributes to this enduring objective as each element of air and space
power brings unique and essential capabilities to the joint force. Our
inherent ability to envision, experiment, and ultimately execute the
union of a myriad of platforms and people into a greater, synergistic
whole is the key to maximizing these capabilities. In so doing, we are
able to focus acquisition and force planning on systems that enable
specific, effects-based capabilities, rather than on individual
platforms.
Embedded in our exploration of innovative operational concepts is
the efficient integration of all military systems--air, land, maritime,
space, and information--to ensure maximum flexibility in the joint
delivery of desired effects across the spectrum of conflict, from war
to operations short of war. However, effective integration involves
more than smart technology investment--it also requires investigation
of efficient joint and service organization and innovative operational
thinking. Thus, investments in our people to foster intellectual
flexibility and critical analysis are equally as important as our
technology investments.
Collectively, our air and space core competencies reflect the
visions of the earliest airmen and serve to realize the potential of
air and space forces. We foster ingenuity and adventure in the
development of the world's most professional airmen. We seek to
translate new technologies into practical systems while we encourage
intellectual innovation at every level of war. And, we drive
relentlessly toward integration in order to realize the potential and
maturation of air and space capabilities.
Our proficiency in the three institutional air and space core
competencies underpins our ability to deliver the Air Force's six
distinctive capabilities in joint warfighting. In turn, our
capabilities enable desired effects across the spectrum of joint
operations through our task forces drawn from our air and space
expeditionary forces. The results of this relationship between core
competencies, distinctive capabilities, and operational effects are
manifest in the array of successful missions the Air Force accomplished
in the past year and those we continue to execute.
Expeditionary Construct
Our core competencies reflect a legacy of innovation and adaptation
to accomplish our mission. This point is underscored by the fact that,
in spite of over a 30 percent reduction in manpower in the past twelve
years, we have faced an exponential increase in worldwide taskings.
Intensifying operations tempo (OPSTEMPO) requires significant changes
in the way our force trains, organizes, and deploys to support JFC
requirements. We are a truly expeditionary force--the nature of our
``business'' is deployed operations.
The Air Force meets JFC requirements by presenting forces and
capabilities through our Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF)
construct. This divides our combat forces into ten equivalent AEFs,
each possessing air and space warfighting and associated mobility and
support capabilities. A key element of our ability to deliver these
tailored and ready expeditionary forces is our development of Task
Force Concepts of Operations. Our TF CONOPS describe how we fight and
how we integrate with our sister services and outside agencies. They
are the fundamental blueprints for how we go to war. Combined with our
AEF construct--the principal tool we use to present expeditionary
wings, groups, and squadrons--TF CONOPS will guide our decisions in
operational planning, enable us to provide scalable, quick-reacting,
tasked-organized units from the ten standing AEFs; and sustain our
ability to ensure trained and ready forces are available to satisfy
operational plans and contingency requirements.
The AEF construct incorporates a 15-month cycle during which two
AEFs are designated as lead for a 90-day ``eligibility'' period. During
this period, the two are either deployed or on alert for daily,
worldwide expeditionary taskings, for which they are tailored and
presented to the JFC as expeditionary squadrons, groups, and wings
(depending on the specific requirement.) Meanwhile, the remaining eight
AEFs are in various stages of reconstituting, training, or preparatory
spin-up. It is during this preparatory time (approximately two months)
that we integrate the training-to-task of AEF squadrons immediately
prior to their on-call window.
Yet, it is important to note that while our combat forces cycle
through deployment vulnerability periods, they sustain wartime
readiness throughout the 15-month training and preparation cycle--a
critical driver of our 90-day eligibility window. Our AEF cycle thus
precludes the need for ``tiered'' readiness by allowing our combat
forces to remain current and capable for any contingency or operational
plan.
While ensuring necessary capabilities for the JFC, AEF cycles allow
us to provide our airmen with a more stable and predictable environment
in which to train, re-fit, and equip. In addition, AEF scheduling makes
it easier and more practicable for the Air Reserve Component (ARC)
forces--Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and Air National Guard (ANG)--
to bring their essential contributions to bear by allowing them to plan
definitive absences from their civilian employment. This is a critical
advantage of the AEF construct, as ARC forces comprise nearly half of
the forces assigned to AEFs and contribute the majority of forces for
some mission areas.
Operations in 2002
Confident in our air and space capabilities, and committed to
meeting any mission tasked, the Air Force completed an unprecedented
array of operations and exercises in 2002. From the mountain ranges in
Afghanistan and the jungles of the Philippines to the deserts of the
Middle East, and across every continent and body of water, the Air
Force joined with land and naval forces to secure America's national
objectives. With each mission, the joint force grows more capable as it
applies vision, experimentation, and integration to every undertaking.
We do not act as individual services, but in concert as joint
warfighters, as we prevail in the war on terrorism and in all
undertakings.
Assuring our Nation's citizens, the Air Force conducts a range of
alert postures involving more than 200 military aircraft at over 20
airbases for Operation NOBLE EAGLE (ONE). In conjunction with
unprecedented NATO airborne warning support and other U.S. assets, we
have provided continuous combat air patrols over sensitive/high risk
areas, and random patrols over other metropolitan areas and key
infrastructure. Last year, we flew over 25,000 ONE fighter, tanker,
airlift, and airborne warning sorties, made possible only through the
mobilization of over 30,000 reserve component airmen. In fact, the ANG
and AFRC have effected over 75 percent of the total ONE missions. We
will continue this critical mission, as we execute our most fundamental
responsibility--homeland defense.
Throughout Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF), the USAF has
maintained a continuous, steady-force presence in Afghanistan and the
rest of the area of responsibility with more than 14,000 airmen. Air
Force assets provide crucial intelligence and situation awareness,
combat power, and support capabilities for the combatant commander. A
key reason for American military success in the region is the
performance of Air Force special operations airmen. Working in teams
with other special forces, ground units, and coalition elements, airmen
special operators heroically bring to bear the full weight of air and
space capabilities--from the ground. They introduce our adversaries to
the full lethality of our airmen, fully integrated on the ground, in
the air, and from space.
Fully engaged in all aspects of the war on terrorism, from mobility
to close air support, our aircraft and crews flew more than 40,000 OEF
sorties in 2002--over 70 percent of all coalition sorties. Over 8,000
refueling missions marked the linchpin capability for the joint fight--
the tanker force--while the magnificent achievements of airlift assets
rounded out overwhelming mobility efforts. Simply put, Air Force
mobility forces made operations in a distant, land-locked nation
possible.
Beyond air operations, we operated and maintained several
constellations of earth-orbiting satellites, and in 2002 we launched 18
missions with a 100 percent success rate--including the first space
launches using Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles. These activities
bolstered America's assured access to space and ensured vigorous,
global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), missile
warning, precision navigation and timing, communications, and weather
systems. In addition, manned, unmanned, and space ISR assets not only
delivered unprecedented battlefield awareness, but with the Predator
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), also introduced transformational combat
capabilities.
ONE and OEF levied particularly heavy demands on our security
forces. In CONUS and forward locations, increased alert postures
warranted significant increases in security personnel who constitute a
critical element of our force protection capabilities. These demands
have raised our force protection posture worldwide and have forced us
to adjust to a new ``steady state'' condition. Security forces bear the
brunt of the adjustment effort despite a resultant baseline shortfall
of approximately 8,000 personnel to meet the alert postures. In the
near term, we involuntarily extended for a second year nearly 9,500 ARC
security forces. However, in order to relieve these ARC forces, we
concluded a two-year agreement with the Army for short-term support,
and initiated several ongoing efforts to combine technology, new
processes, and some manpower shifts to achieve a long-term adjustment
to this new era.
As we adjust, we continue to deliver force protection through the
integrated application of counter and antiterrorism operations, and
preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and
explosive (CBRNE) incidents. We employ a tailored selection and
application of multi-layered active and passive, offensive and
defensive measures. Intelligence and counterintelligence programs
support this integrated effort and remain critical to our success. In
this regard, we continued to develop and employ all-source intelligence
systems; cross-functional intelligence analysis procedures; and an
operational planning process to implement Force Protection operations
that deter, detect, deny, and destroy threats. Our goal is to see
first, understand first, and act first.
Though engaged in these security enhancements and the global war on
terrorism, our combat operations were not limited to OEF in 2002. Iraqi
forces fired on coalition aircraft over 400 times during 14,000 sorties
supporting Operations NORTHERN WATCH (ONW) and SOUTHERN WATCH (OSW).
The Air Force maintained a continuous, regional presence of more than
9,000 airmen, while air and space assets provided vital intelligence,
situation awareness, and indications and warning to monitor Iraq's
compliance with United Nations' directives.
Whether on the ground or in the skies, our airmen also conducted a
host of other missions above-and-beyond standing security requirements
around the globe. Even though the war on terrorism is our national
military focus, airmen joined soldiers, sailors, and marines in the
Balkans, South America, Europe, Asia, and around the world to assure
our friends and allies, while deterring and dissuading our adversaries.
Worldwide humanitarian and non-combat evacuation operations
missions remain other key tasks for Air Force personnel. In 2002, for
example, airlift crews exceeded 2.4 million airdropped daily ration
deliveries in Afghanistan, evacuated allied personnel at threatened
locations around the world, and flew typhoon relief missions to Guam,
while our explosive ordnance specialists removed unexploded munitions
in Africa. Yet, while conducting unprecedented food, medical, civil
engineering, and evacuation relief efforts in warring regions, we were
also on call to perform critical, quick-response missions during
natural or man-made crises at home. Through explosive ordnance
disposal, firefighting, law enforcement support, and rapid medical
response expertise, we conducted daily operations in support of local,
state, and federal agencies. During the wildfire season, ANG and AFRC
C-130s equipped with modular airborne fire fighting systems flew nearly
200 sorties while assisting U.S. Forest Service firefighting efforts in
numerous states. In addition, when Hurricane Lili endangered Louisiana,
Air Force aeromedical and critical care forces rolled in with C-9
aircraft to transport and safeguard 40 patients from threatened
hospitals.
Training Transformation
Training is a unique American military strength. As potential
adversaries work to overcome our technological superiority, it is
imperative we enhance this strength through improved proficiency at the
tactical level and integration at the joint level. Training is integral
to our core competencies and the critical enabler for military
capabilities, so we are engaged with the other services, unified
commands, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) in
developing and implementing a training transformation plan. Our
objective is to train as we will fight, and increase the joint context
of our exercises through live, virtual, distributed, and constructive
environments. It is the realism of this training that gives us the edge
in combat. This involves not only modernizing the integration of space
and information operations on our ranges, but also planning for their
sustainment to meet future test and training missions while
implementing environmentally sound use and management to ensure long
term availability. Additionally, to expand range support for current
and emerging missions, we are embarking on a new effort to identify and
procure environmental, airspace, and spectrum resources at home and
abroad. Balancing competing economic and environmental needs for these
resources is a growing challenge we face with our regulatory and
community partners. To support this effort, DOD developed the Range and
Readiness Preservation Initiative. This legislation recommends
clarification to environmental laws that, as currently written and
interpreted, can adversely affect resources available to support
training activities at ranges.
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Exercises, Interoperability Training, and
Experimentation
We advanced joint and combined interoperability skills with our
sister services and those of 104 nations throughout 111 JCS exercises
and Joint Task Force (JTF) experimentation, conducted in 40 foreign
countries. Exercises ranged from large field training such as BRIGHT
STAR, to command post exercises like POSITIVE RESPONSE, to smaller, but
equally valuable, humanitarian exercises, as in the school
construction, well drilling, and medical clinic visits of NEW
HORIZONS--JAMAICA. These activities provided realistic training and
enhanced the effectiveness of all participating nations' forces.
Task Force Enduring Look
Success in future operations hinges upon our ability to learn from
previous operations and exercises. To ensure we learn from ongoing
operations and adapt accordingly, we established Task Force Enduring
Look (TFEL). TFEL is responsible for Air Force-wide data collection,
exploitation, documentation, and reporting for our efforts in ONE/OEF.
The objective for TFEL is clear--provide superior support to the
warfighter, and properly recognize and apply lessons learned during
rather than only at the conclusion of these operations.
Through extensive investigation and analysis, TFEL examines joint
warfighting effectiveness, determines implications, and shapes future
Air Force transformation of expeditionary air and space power. The task
force documents lessons learned in a variety of products that cover
every conceivable subject matter. As derivative campaigns unfold, TFEL
will broaden its assessments in follow-on reports. Applying the lessons
in these reports and adapting from our past experiences will help
ensure we prevail in future operations.
We are able to accomplish the full spectrum of air and space
missions and improve our capabilities through lessons learned, by
focusing on the best way to organize, train, and equip. Creativity,
ingenuity, and innovation are the hallmarks of all that we do, all of
which begins with our people.
WHO WE ARE
``No arsenal and no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so
formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a
weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon
that we as Americans do have.'' President Ronald Reagan, 20 January
1981
America is blessed with vast resources, and chief among these is
her people. In the same way, the Air Force relies on the officers,
enlisted, civilians, and contractors that comprise our Total Force--
Active Duty, Guard and Reserve--for cultural strength and unbridled
skill. Air Force strength will never reside in systems alone, but in
the airmen operating them. Nor will our capabilities improve solely
through technology, but instead through the adaptive insight of our
creative and selfless professionals.
Therefore, we recruit and retain a remarkably diverse group to
ensure we reach the fullest potential of air and space forces. Their
backgrounds reflect the cross-section of American culture--all races,
religions, economic and educational backgrounds, skill and management
levels, men and women--and make this Air Force the tremendous
organization it is today. Just as diverse individual citizens find
unity in the term American, our personnel embrace an identity and
fundamental perspective as Airmen.
The underlying qualities found in all airmen emanate from our core
values--integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all
that we do. Embedded in these core values are the inherent
characteristics of our confident, capable airmen--courage, tenacity,
professionalism, vision, pride, and, when faced with seemingly
insurmountable obstacles, heroism. Indeed, today's airmen carry on the
traditions and visions of the earliest generation of airmen while
preparing for the challenges of the future.
The diversity of our airmen energizes the advancement of America's
air and space power. Airmen embrace transformational ideas and seek to
apply them to every aspect of the Air Force, from organizational
constructs to concepts of operations and employment. They are able
stewards of the nation's space programs, advancing ideas and
technologies for national security, as well as for the environmental
and economic benefit of our Nation and the world. And yet, ultimately
our standout advantage is our warrior airmen themselves, who
demonstrate skills and dedication in combat unsurpassed by any in
history. Whether maintaining safe skies across the United Nations'
sanctioned no-fly zone in Iraq, hunting down terrorists in the jungles
of the Philippines, or paying the ultimate price while rescuing fellow
Americans in a battle on an Afghan ridge, our airmen are proven combat
veterans. Their selflessness resonates the very best of our Service.
Airmen are expeditionary--our natural state of operations is not
``home station,'' but rather, deployed. After two successful cycles,
our AEF construct has been validated as an effective means of meeting
our Nation's expeditionary requirements. Yet we continue to enhance the
construct, by initiating significant organizational change to ensure
nearly every airman belongs to one of the ten AEFs. The effect has been
a change to our airmen's mindset and culture, where an individual's AEF
association cultivates an expeditionary perspective and a clearer
appreciation for joint warfighting requirements and capabilities.
Force Development--A New Leadership Development Paradigm
In the past, we addressed aspects of career development, education,
and assignments individually, but not necessarily in a coordinated,
connected approach. Recognizing this, and to prepare for the future
more ably, we introduced a systemic, deliberate force development
construct that evolves professional airmen into joint force warriors.
This construct coordinates doctrine and policies, concentrated to
provide the right level, timing, and focus of education, training, and
experience for all airmen, while encompassing personal, team, and
institutional leadership skills across tactical, operational, and
strategic levels.
In the 21st Century, we need air and space warriors with mastery of
their primary skills and others who possess competency beyond their own
specialty. However, this diversity must be deliberate to ensure the
correct skills are paired according to institutional requirements.
Force development encourages many to obtain a deep perspective in their
functional area, but at the same time offers the broader perspective we
need to complement our leadership team. We begin this transformation
with the Active Duty officer corps and will eventually encompass the
civilian, enlisted, and Reserve component to better meet the expanding
challenges of tomorrow.
Education and Technical Training--Emphasis on Joint Leadership/Warfare
As opportunities resident in advancing technologies unfold, it is
imperative that the Air Force be able to draw upon a vibrant collection
of educated, technically skilled, and technologically savvy airmen--
both uniformed and civilian alike. We are answering this fundamental
need in fiscal year 2003 with aggressive and innovative initiatives to
enhance the abilities and breadth of our force. Agile, flexible
training is an essential investment in human capital, and our
initiatives will ensure our investment delivers the right training to
the right people at the right time.
In August 2002, we began our groundbreaking Enlisted-to-Air Force
Institute of Technology (AFIT) Program. An initial cadre of senior NCOs
began receiving world-class, graduate education to optimize them for
greater responsibilities and challenging follow-on assignments. We will
also provide a major influx of officers into AFIT, Naval Postgraduate
School (NPS), and civilian institutions. In addition, because more than
42 percent of our civilian force will be eligible for retirement in the
next five years, we are committing significant resources to pay for
advanced education as well as cross-functional career broadening.
Future military missions and contingencies will require greater
sophistication and understanding of the security environment, and our
expeditionary force requires airmen with international insight, foreign
language proficiency, and cultural understanding. We are working
diligently to expand the cadre of professionals with such skill sets
and experiences. Our education initiatives will contribute to a major
corporate culture shift that fosters appropriate development throughout
our airmen's careers to meet evolving force requirements.
Diversity
Foremost among our efforts to enhance the capabilities of our
airmen is a passionate drive for diversity. Diversity is a warfighting
issue; it is a readiness issue. We must attract people from all
segments of American society and tap into the limitless talents and
advantages resident in our diverse population if we hope to reach our
fullest potential as a fighting force. Nurturing rich representation
from all demographics opens the door to creativity and ingenuity,
offering an unparalleled competitive edge for air and space
development. Today's multi-threat world also mandates that we
invigorate in our airmen the ability to effectively think across
cultural boundaries and functional paradigms (or stovepipes). We will
thus recruit, train, and retain airmen without intellectual boundaries,
uniquely capable of integrating people, weapons, ideas, and systems to
achieve air and space dominance.
Recruiting
It takes tremendous effort to identify and develop such airmen, yet
the return for the nation is immeasurable. Increased advertising, an
expanded recruiting force with broader access to secondary school
students, and competitive compensation prepare us to meet recruiting
goals. Despite the challenge of mustering such a diverse and skilled
collection of Americans, we exceeded our fiscal year 2002 enlisted
recruiting goals and expect to surpass fiscal year 2003 objectives. We
will adapt our goals to meet new force objectives; however, the
capacity limitations of Basic Military Training and Technical Training
School quotas will continue to challenge Total Force recruiting
efforts.
Officer recruitment presents similar challenges, yet we continue to
attract America's best and brightest. However, we are particularly
concerned with military and civilian scientists and engineers. We fell
short of our accession goal for this group and have begun all-out
recruitment and retention efforts for these critical specialties. For
example, in fiscal year 2003 we plan to begin a college sponsorship
program to attract scientists and engineers from universities lacking
ROTC programs. In addition, we continue to find recruiting health care
professionals especially difficult, so we are making adjustments to
ensure improvement.
We will also closely monitor ARC recruitment. Historically, the ANG
and AFRC access close to 25 percent of eligible, separating Active Duty
Air Force members (i.e. no break in service.) Continued high OPSTEMPO
may negatively impact our efforts in attracting Air National Guardsmen,
as well as drawing separating Active Duty airmen to the Air Force
Reserve. As a result, recruiting will have to ``make up'' a substantial
portion of accessions from that market by developing alternatives.
Retention
The Air Force is a retention-based force. The critical skill sets
we develop in our airmen are not easily replaced, so we expend every
effort to retain our people--the impetus for our ``re-recruiting''
efforts. Overall retention plans include robust compensation packages
that reward service, provide for a suitable standard of living, ensure
a high quality of life, and retain the caliber of professionals we need
to decisively win America's wars.
For fiscal year 2002, it was difficult to calculate accurate
retention results due to Air Force implementation of Stop Loss.
Nonetheless, we continue to reap the benefits of an aggressive
retention program, aided by bonuses, targeted pay raises, and quality
of life improvements. Introducing the Critical Skills Retention Bonus
for select officer specialties reinforces our commitment to target
specific skills suffering significant retention challenges. However,
many airmen retained under Stop Loss will separate throughout fiscal
year 2003--a fact of particular concern for our rated force.
Bonuses and special pay programs continue to be effective tools in
retaining our members. The ANG has placed particular emphasis on
aircraft maintenance fields, security forces, and communication and
intelligence specialists, among others, by offering enlistment and
reenlistment bonuses, Student Loan Repayment Program, and the
Montgomery GI Bill Kicker Program. Another example is the flexible
Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP) program--an important part of our
multi-faceted plan to retain pilots. In conjunction with our rated
recall program, our fiscal year 2002 plan resulted in a substantial
increase in committed personnel. We have a similarly designed ACP
program in fiscal year 2003, and developed extensions to include
navigators and air battle managers.
Summary
Regardless of AEF deployment or home station missions, our airmen
accomplish their duties with firm commitment and resolute action. It's
what we do. It's who we are: a practical, technically sound, ingenious
force of uniformed and civilian airmen derived from this richly diverse
nation to create the world's premier air and space power.
WHERE WE'RE GOING
The first hundred years of powered flight witnessed tremendous and
enduring innovation. We commemorate this centennial during 2003 with
the theme, Born of Dreams, Inspired by Freedom, which recognizes the
remarkable accomplishments of generations of airmen. Today's airmen are
equally impassioned to bring dreams to reality as we pursue our vision
of tomorrow's Air Force, Unlimited Horizon. Through this vision, we
build a bridge from today's existing capabilities to those required to
win tomorrow's wars.
Ultimately our success will be measured by our ability to provide
our forces with assured freedom to attack and freedom from attack.
Achieving such victory in tomorrow's battlespace will demand our full
integration with fellow services, allies, and coalition partners--an
essential part of the expeditionary construct. Through our security
cooperation efforts, we build these international defense relationships
and allied capabilities to ensure we have the access, interoperability,
and international support for our worldwide commitments. Toward this
requirement, we are working with our sister services to develop truly
joint concepts of operations that integrate the full spectrum of land,
sea, air, space, and information warfighting capabilities. When America
places its men and women in uniform into harm's way, we owe them
preeminent resources, planning, and organization to achieve victory
over any adversary.
Capabilities-Based CONOPS
While adapting to the new strategic environment, our principal
focus has been transitioning from a platform-based garrison force to a
capabilities-based expeditionary force. No longer platform-centric, we
are committed to making warfighting effects, and the capabilities we
need to achieve them, the driving force behind our ongoing
transformation. From this point forward, all of our operational,
programming, and budget decisions will be supported by a predefined
capability.
Our emerging TF CONOPS will help make this essential shift by
providing solutions to a variety of problems warfighters can expect to
encounter in the future. Whether detailing our plans for operating in
an anti-access environment or identifying how to deliver humanitarian
rations to refugees, TF CONOPS lend focus on the essential elements
required to accomplish the mission. They cover the complete spectrum of
warfighting capabilities (deep strike, information, urban,
psychological operations, etc.) and enable us to tailor forces
(expeditionary wings, groups, or squadrons) from existing AEFs to meet
JFC's requirements. Responsibility for CONOPS development falls to the
Major Commands, with a senior officer on the HQ USAF Air Staff assigned
to each CONOPS to serve as their ``Champion,'' facilitating the
process.
TF CONOPS directly support Secretary Rumsfeld's efforts to free
scarce resources trapped in bureaucracy and push them to the
warfighter. They will also be the focal point for a capabilities-based
Program Objective Memorandum (POM). In support of this effort, our
Capabilities Review and Risk Assessment analyzes and assesses
shortfalls, health, risks, and opportunities, while prioritizing
required future capabilities. This helps CONOPS developers articulate
any disconnects between required capabilities and developing programs,
while providing senior Air Force leadership an operational,
capabilities-based focus for acquisition program decision-making. TF
CONOPS include:
--Global Strike Task Force (GSTF) employs joint power-projection
capabilities to engage anti-access and high-value targets, gain
access to denied battlespace, and maintain battlespace access
for all required joint/coalition follow-on operations.
--Global Response Task Force (GRTF) combines intelligence and strike
systems to attack fleeting or emergent, high-value, or high-
risk targets by surgically applying air and space power in a
narrow window of opportunity, anywhere on the globe, within
hours.
--Homeland Security Task Force (HLSTF) leverages Air Force
capabilities with joint and interagency efforts to prevent,
protect, and respond to threats against our homeland--whether
within or beyond U.S. territories.
--Space and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (Space & C\4\ISR) Task Force
harnesses horizontal integration of manned, unmanned, and space
systems to provide persistent situation awareness and
executable decision-quality information to the JFC.
--Global Mobility Task Force (GMTF) provides regional combatant
commanders with the planning, command and control (C\2\), and
operations capabilities to enable rapid, timely, and effective
projection, employment, and sustainment of U.S. power in
support of U.S. global interests--precision delivery for
operational effects.
--Nuclear Response Task Force (NRTF) provides the deterrent
``umbrella'' under which conventional forces operate, and, if
deterrence fails, avails a rapid scalable response.
--Air and Space Expeditionary CONOPS is the overarching context,
which identifies and sequences distinctive capabilities and
broad-based functions that air and space power provide the JFC
to generate desired effects for national military objectives.
The Air Force is transforming around these Task Force Concepts of
Operations. In addition to serving as a roadmap for operators, the TF
construct will form the basis for resource allocation, future system
acquisitions, and POM submissions in order to find capabilities-based
solutions to warfighter problems.
Science and Technology (S&T)--Wellspring of Air and Space Capabilities
Reaching these warfighter solutions rests in large measure with
research and development. Through robust investment and deliberate
focus in science and technology, the Air Force invigorates our core
competency of technology-to-warfighting. Combined with innovative
vision, S&T opens the direct route towards transforming air and space
capabilities. Therefore we continue long-term, stable investment in S&T
to ensure we realize future capabilities, as well as those that may
immediately affect existing systems.
We are improving our S&T planning and collaboration with other
services and agencies to ensure: we: (1) encourage an operational pull
that conveys to the S&T community a clear vision of the capabilities we
need for the future; (2) address the full spectrum of future needs in a
balanced and well-thought out manner; and (3) enhance our ability to
demonstrate and integrate promising technologies. Some of these new
technologies--UAV systems, laser-based communications, space-based
radar, and others--show clear promise for near-term, joint warfighting
applications. Others present opportunities we can only begin to
imagine. We are exploring each of these technologies, and our
investment will deliver the required capabilities of our CONOPS.
Executive Agent for Space
Embedded in all of our TF CONOPS, and indeed within most military
operations, is an extensive reliance on systems resident in space. The
Air Force proudly fulfills the role of Department of Defense Executive
Agent for Space with confidence and enthusiasm. Our ability to execute
this tremendous responsibility stems from a natural outflow of our core
competencies and distinctive capabilities. Accordingly, and in
conjunction with the other services and agencies, we are shaping a new
and comprehensive approach to national security space management and
organization.
Our capstone objective is to realize the enormous potential in the
high ground of space, and to employ the full spectrum of space-based
capabilities to enable joint warfighting and to protect our national
security. The key to achieving this end is wholesale integration:
through air, land, space, and sea; across legacy and future systems;
among existing and evolving concepts of operations; and between
organizations across all sectors of government. We will continue to
deliver unity of vision, effort, and execution to fulfill our mission
of delivering the most advanced space capabilities for America.
Drawing Effects from Space
Our horizon is truly unlimited, extending beyond the atmospheric
environs of airpower to the reaches of outer space. Our proud Air Force
tradition of airpower is joined by an equally proud and continually
developing tradition of space power.
In the early days of the space age, only those at the strategic
level received and exploited the benefits of space capabilities. The
current state of affairs, however, is decidedly different. The former
distinctions between classified and unclassified programs among
military, civil, and commercial applications are growing increasingly
blurred--in some cases, they are virtually seamless. In short, space
capabilities now are woven deeply into the fabric of modern society,
and they have altered forever the way we fight wars, defend our
homeland, and live our lives.
It is in this context and this understanding of the widespread and
increasing importance of space systems that we strive to meet present
and future national security challenges by providing dominant space
capabilities that will:
--Exploit Space for Joint Warfighting.--Space capabilities are
integral to modern warfighting forces, providing critical
surveillance and reconnaissance information, especially over
areas of high risk or denied access for airborne platforms.
They provide weather and other earth-observation data, global
communications, precision navigation and guidance to troops on
the ground, ships at sea, aircraft in flight, and weapons en
route to targets. All of these capabilities, and more, make
possible the tremendous success our joint warfighters achieve
during combat operations.
We will enhance these existing capabilities and, where it makes
sense, pursue new ones such as the Transformational
Communications System (TCS), which will strive to dramatically
increase bandwidth and access for warfighters; and Space Based
Radar, which will complement the airborne Joint Surveillance
Target and Attack Radar System (JSTARS) while migrating Ground
Moving Target Indicators (GMTI) into space. We will also
develop methods and technologies to enhance our nation's
ability to conduct rapid and accurate global strike operations
anywhere in pursuit of U.S. interests.
--Pursue Assured Access to Space.--We cannot effectively exploit
space for joint warfighting if we do not have responsive,
reliable, and assured access to space. In August 2002, the new
Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle got off to a strong start
with the successful launch of Lockheed Martin's Atlas V
booster. Boeing's Delta IV program added to the Nation's quiver
of modern launch vehicles with liftoff in November 2002. We
will also pursue advanced and highly versatile reusable
launchers and small expendables with extremely short response
times to achieve long-term assured access, while taking the
necessary steps to maintain and improve our space launch
infrastructure.
--Preserve our Freedom to Act in Space.--We must be able to act
freely in space, or risk losing those capabilities essential to
joint warfighting. We initiated efforts to increase our space
situation awareness, beginning with the new Space Situation
Awareness Integration Office at Air Force Space Command, and a
similar program at the Space and Missile Systems Center. Future
efforts are planned to develop strategy, doctrine, and programs
to improve the protection of our own space capabilities while
denying the benefits of joint space capabilities to our
adversaries.
As it is with all Air Force capabilities, the most important
resource for national space capabilities is neither technological nor
fiscal--it is human. Our Space Professional Strategy fulfills a Space
Commission recommendation to develop space professionals and nurture a
cadre to lead our national security space endeavors at all levels in
the decades ahead. These space-expert airmen will be the core stewards
of space operations, and shoulder the responsibility for aggressively
advancing joint warfighting capabilities into the high ground frontier.
Horizontal Integration of Manned, Unmanned, and Space Assets
The essence of transformation is found in leveraging the nation's
technological dominance to create maximum asymmetrical advantage.
Airmen seek unrestricted boundaries when looking at war planning from a
theater-wide perspective, or talking about national elements of power.
Simply stated, it is in the way we think--we must take advantage of it.
Our foremost objective is to develop the capability to conduct
rapid and precise operations to achieve desired effects and shape the
battlespace for the joint force. This requires interfacing numerous DOD
and national assets--the seamless, horizontal integration of manned,
unmanned, and space-based systems. An essential element is designing
systems that use digital-level, machine-to-machine conversations to
expedite data flow and ensure the JFC receives timely, decision-quality
information. Such integration will dramatically shorten the find, fix,
track, target, engage, and assess (F\2\T\2\EA) cycle. In the end, we
know that neither JFC's guiding operations, nor special operators
putting iron on targets, care what source provides the target data. It
is an effect they seek, and what we will provide.
Key to the warfighter's success is Predictive Battlespace Awareness
(PBA). PBA requires in-depth study of an adversary well before
hostilities begin. Ultimately we want to be able to anticipate his
actions to the maximum extent possible. PBA-derived insights allow us
to utilize critical ISR assets for confirmation rather than pure
discovery once hostilities begin. We are then able to analyze
information to assess current conditions, exploit emerging
opportunities, anticipate future actions, and act with a degree of
speed and certainty unmatched by our adversaries.
Along this path, we are transitioning from collecting data through
a myriad of independent systems (Rivet Joint, AWACS, JSTARS, space-
based assets, etc) to a Multi-sensor Command and Control Constellation
(MC\2\C) capable of providing the JFC with real-time, enhanced
battlespace awareness. Today, this transition is restricted by the
necessity to rely on Low Density/High Demand (LD/HD) C\4\ISR assets.
The limitation inherent in LD/HD platforms forces us to shift their
exploitation capabilities between theaters to cover emerging global
threats and events. This sub-optimizes overall battlespace awareness
and limits our efforts at predictive analysis. In the interim,
responsive space-based ISR assets will help mitigate our over-stressed
LD/HD systems. Yet ultimately, we need a synergistic combination of
military and commercial assets, advanced data processing capabilities,
and assured reachback to achieve true battlespace awareness.
In the future, a single wide-body platform employing tunable
antennas and sensors--Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft
(MC\2\A)--will replace many of the C\4\ISR functions of today's
specialized, but independent assets. Air, ground, and space assets will
comprise the MC\2\C, which will elevate Joint Forces Air Component
Commanders' ability to command and control air assets. Additionally,
every platform will be a sensor on the integrated network. Regardless
of mission function (C\2\, ISR, shooters, tankers, etc), any data
collected by a sensor will be passed to all network recipients. This
requires networking all air, space, ground, and sea-based ISR systems,
command and control (C\2\) nodes, and strike platforms, to achieve
shared battlespace awareness and a synergy to maximize our ability to
achieve the JFC's desired effects.
Uniting joint and coalition information presents the most difficult
challenge in providing one common operational picture for key decision
makers. We are working closely with our sister services to eliminate
the seams between existing systems and taking the necessary steps to
ensure all future acquisitions are planned and funded to meet the
interoperability requirements of future joint CONOPS.
A critical element of successful information merging is
communications, as bandwidth is finite and requires careful management.
Long-range or penetrating systems must communicate beyond the horizon
despite adversaries' attempts to exploit or interrupt these links. To
counter disruption, all systems must be reliable, secure, and
bandwidth-efficient. The PBA construct facilitates this objective by
eliminating constrictive, stove-piped communications systems while
emphasizing networked operations.
We will realize the vision of horizontal integration in our TF
CONOPS. GSTF, for example, will deliver the right-sized mix of assets
with appropriate sensors capable of penetrating into enemy airspace.
Such sensors may be low observable and/or expendable, mounted on either
ISR platforms or imbedded into strike platforms. Sensors may consist of
special operations forces, inserted before the commencement of
hostilities, who communicate with attack platforms during combat via
secure electronic writing tablets, annotating targets and threats on
the imagery display with a stylus. As technology progresses, and where
it makes sense, a significant portion of ISR functionality will likely
migrate to space, affording 24/7 persistence and penetration. Likewise,
advanced defensive counterspace capabilities will afford these systems
protection from enemy actions.
Combining manned, unmanned, and space-based assets with dynamic
C\2\ and PBA transforms disparate collection and analysis activities
into a coherent process, allowing the warfighter to make timely,
confident, and capable combat decisions. This is what the Air Force
brings to the joint fight. It is what air and space warriors are all
about. We unlock the intellectual potential of airmen who think across
the dimensions of mediums and systems capabilities, for the joint
warfighter.
Addressing the Recapitalization Challenges
Despite new CONOPS and visions for future capabilities, we cannot
rely on intellectual flexibility to eradicate the challenge of old
systems and technologies. Though creativity may temporarily reduce the
negative impacts of aging systems on our operational options,
ultimately there are impassable limits created by air and space system
hardware issues.
We have made tremendous strides in modernizing and improving
maintenance plans for our aircraft; however, the tyranny of age has
introduced new problems for old aircraft. Reality dictates that if we
completely enhance the avionics and add new engines to 40-year old
tankers and bombers, they are still 40-year old aircraft, and subject
to fleet-threatening problems such as corrosion and structural failure.
This is equally true for our fighter aircraft, where once cutting-
edge F-117s now average over 15-years of age, and mainstay air-
dominance F-15Cs are averaging nearly 20-years of service. With double-
digit surface-to-air missile systems, next-generation aircraft, and
advanced cruise missile threats proliferating, merely maintaining our
aging fighter and attack aircraft will be insufficient. In fact, the
dramatic advances offered in many of our TF CONOPs cannot be realized
without the addition of the unique capabilities incorporated in the F/
A-22. Simply stated, our legacy systems cannot ensure air dominance in
future engagements--the fundamental element for joint force access and
operations. We will thus continue executive oversight of F/A-22
acquisition in order to ensure program success. While keeping our
funding promises, we will procure the only system in this decade that
puts munitions on targets, and which is unequally capable of detecting
and intercepting aircraft and cruise missiles.
Although ultimately solving these recapitalization challenges
requires acquisition of new systems, we will continue to find
innovative means to keep current systems operationally effective in the
near term. We know that just as new problems develop with old systems,
so too do new opportunities for employment, such as our employment of
B-1s and B-52s in a close air support role during OEF. We will also
pursue new options for these long-range strike assets in a standoff
attack role for future operations.
Unlike with the aforementioned air-breathing assets, we cannot make
service life extensions or other modifications to our orbiting space
systems. Satellites must be replaced regularly to account for hardware
failures, upgrade their capabilities, and avoid significant coverage
gaps. Additionally, we must improve outmoded ground control stations,
enhance protective measures, continue to address new space launch
avenues, and address bandwidth limitations in order to continue
leveraging space capabilities for the joint warfighter. We are
exploring alternatives for assuring access to space, and a key aspect
of this effort will be invigorating the space industrial base.
Finally, it is imperative that we address the growing deficiencies
in our infrastructure. Any improvements we may secure for our air and
space systems will be limited without a commensurate address of
essential support systems. Deteriorated roofs, waterlines, electrical
networks, and airfields are just some of the infrastructure elements
warranting immediate attention. Our ability to generate air and space
capabilities preeminently rests with the ingenuity of visionary ideas,
yet intellectual versatility must be supported by viable systems and
structures to realize our Service potential.
Organizational Adaptations
Commensurate with our drive to enhance air and space capabilities
is our identification and development of organizational structures to
aid these advances. In 2002, we initiated numerous adaptations to more
efficiently and effectively exploit Air Force advantages for the joint
warfighter.
Warfighting Integration Deputate
Comprehensive integration of the Air Force's extensive C\4\ISR
systems is paramount for our future capabilities. This requires an
enterprise approach of total information-cycle activities including
people, processes, and technology. To achieve this, we created a new
Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration (AF/XI), which brings
together the operational experience and the technical expertise of
diverse elements (C\4\ISR, systems integration, modeling and
simulation, and enterprise architecture specialties.)
This new directorate will close the seams in the F\2\T\2\EA kill
chain by guiding the integration of manned, unmanned, and space C\4\ISR
systems. AF/XI's leadership, policy, and resource prioritization will
capitalize on the technologies, concepts of operations, and
organizational changes necessary to achieve horizontal integration and
interoperability.
Success has been immediate. AF/XI worked with the Deputy Chief of
Staff for Air and Space Operations to champion increased Air Operations
Center weapon system funding in the fiscal year 2004 POM, which
accelerated the stabilization and standardization of the weapon system.
Subsequently, the base-lined weapon system now has a modernization
plan, which is both viable and affordable. AF/XI also led analysis that
highlighted imbalances among collection and exploitation capabilities.
As a result, we plan to accelerate ground processing and exploitation
capabilities within the Future Years Defense Program to close the gap.
Major contributions in management of the complex information
environment will continue, as AF/XI makes better use of scarce
resources, allowing the Air Force to provide the joint warfighter the
capabilities to dominate the battlespace.
Chief Information Officer (AF/CIO)
Partnered with AF/XI, the AF/CIO shares responsibility to spearhead
the transformation to an information-driven, network-centric Air Force.
These two organizations orchestrate the integration within our
information enterprise, and establish processes and standards to
accelerate funding and ensure priorities match our integrated
information vision.
The AF/CIO's specific mission is to promote the most effective and
efficient application, acquisition, and management of information
technology resources under an enterprise architecture. The goal is to
provide the roadmap for innovation and to function as a blueprint for
the overall leverage of valuable information technology. Enterprise
architecture will use models and processes to capture the complex
interrelationships between the Air Force's systems and platforms. A
resultant example is basing Information Technology (IT) investment
decisions on sound business cases, approved Air Force standards, and,
ultimately, how a particular technology contributes to specific
capabilities. Additionally, we are institutionalizing enterprise
architecting as a key construct in defining mission information
requirements and promoting interoperability.
Currently, the wide variety of IT standards limits C\2\ processes
and information and decision support to our warfighters. The AF/CIO-AF/
XI team is tackling this and all other integration challenges as they
develop an enterprise architecture that spans the entire Air Force,
while also staying in harmony with other services' efforts.
Blended Wing
We do nothing in today's Air Force without Guard, Reserve and
civilian personnel working alongside Active Duty airmen. A fundamental
initiative of Air Force transformation is formalizing this integration
under the Future Total Force (FTF). As part of the FTF, we are pursuing
innovative organizational constructs and personnel policies to meld the
components into a single, more homogenous force. FTF integration will
create efficiencies, cut costs, ensure stability, retain invaluable
human capital, and, above all, increase our combat capabilities.
A key effort is to ``blend,'' where sensible, units from two or
more components into a single wing with a single commander. This level
of integration is unprecedented in any of the services, where Active
Duty, Guard, and Reserve personnel share the same facilities and
equipment, and together, execute the same mission. In essence, blending
provides two resource pools within a single wing--one, a highly
experienced, semi-permanent Reserve component workforce, offering
stability and continuity; the other, a force of primarily Active Duty
personnel able to rotate to other locations as needs dictate.
The first blended wing opportunity arose with the consolidation of
the B1-B fleet. The move left behind an experienced but underutilized
pool of Guard personnel at Robins AFB, GA. Meanwhile, the collocated
93rd Air Control Wing (ACW) (Active Duty E-8 Joint STARS), suffered
from high tempo and low retention. Hence, Secretary Roche directed that
the two units merge, and on 1 October 2002, the blended wing concept
became a reality with the activation of the 116th ACW.
The 116th ACW tackled many pioneering challenges: from legal
questions surrounding the command of combined Active-Reserve component
units, to programmatic issues with funding the program from two
separate accounts, to integrating different personnel systems used by
each component. Airmen from both components are working through these
issues successfully, making the 116th an example for future FTF
blending. Yet, some additional Title 10 and Title 32 provisions still
need to be changed to make the FTF a reality. Meanwhile, parallel
efforts, such as placing Reserve pilots and maintenance personnel
directly into Active Duty flying organizations under the Fighter
Associate Program, add to this leveraging of highly experienced
Reservists to promote a more stable, experienced workforce.
As organizational constructs, blending and associate programs lay
an important foundation for a capabilities-based, expeditionary air and
space force, which are inherently flexible and ideal to meet rotational
AEF requirements. In a resource-constrained environment, blending
promotes efficiencies and synergies by leveraging each component's
comparative strengths, freeing funds for modernization while sustaining
combat effectiveness, and effecting warfighting capabilities greater
than the sum of its parts.
Combat Wing
The comprehensive evaluations in our ongoing transformation include
examining our wing structure. Given all of the lessons gleaned from
expeditionary operations over the past decades, we asked, ``Could we
derive advantages in revised wing organization for both force
development and combat capability?'' The answer was ``Yes,'' and we
enacted changes to create the Combat Wing Organization (CWO).
The central aspect of the CWO is the new Mission Support Group.
This will merge former support and logistics readiness groups, and
contracting and aerial port squadrons, as applicable. Within this
group, we will hone expeditionary skills from crisis action planning,
personnel readiness, and working with the joint system for load
planning and deployment, to communications, contingency bed down, and
force protection. Currently, all of these aspects exist in skill sets
that none of our officers have in total. But the new expeditionary
support discipline will address this, and provide our officers the
expertise in all aspects of commanding expeditionary operations. With
this reorganization, each wing will now have one individual responsible
for the full range of deployment and employment tasks--the Mission
Support Group Commander.
The restructuring will retain the Operations Group; however, group
commanders will become more active in the operational level of war.
Squadron commanders will be role models for operators in the wings,
ready to lead the first exercise and combat missions. Similarly, we
will establish a maintenance group responsible for base-level weapons
system maintenance and sortie production rates. Like their operator
counterparts, maintenance squadron and group commanders will be role
models for all wing maintainers. Meanwhile, medical groups will retain
their current organization, although we are working changes to home and
deployed medical operations for future implementation.
Flying and fixing our weapons systems, as well as mission support,
are essential skill sets. Each requires the highest expertise,
proficiency and leadership. The new wing organization allows commanders
to fully develop within specific functional areas to plan and execute
air and space power as part of expeditionary units, while also giving
maintenance and support personnel focused career progression. This re-
organization does not fix something that is broken--it makes a great
structure exceptional.
Acquisition and Business Transformation
To achieve our vision of an agile, flexible, responsive, and
capabilities-based air and space force, we must transform the processes
that provide combatant commanders with air and space capabilities. An
example of this in action is the Air Force's efforts to carry out the
responsibilities of DOD Space Milestone Decision Authority (MDA). The
Secretary of the Air Force delegated those responsibilities to the
Under Secretary of the Air Force, under whose leadership immediate
benefit was realized. Adapting an effective process already in use at
the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the Under Secretary
instituted a new streamlined space acquisition program review and
milestone decision-making process. This new process was used for the
first time in August 2002 in developing a contract for the National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. This effort
creates an opportunity for the Air Force to apply performance and cost
accountability to defense industrial firms through their chief
financial officers and board of directors by linking executive
compensation to contract performance.
In addition to the major process changes for DOD space, the Air
Force's Business Transformation Task Force directs and integrates
further process improvement and adaptation. Core business and
operations support processes--such as acquisition, logistics,
maintenance, training, medical and dental, among others--are crucial,
as they ultimately determine our overall enterprise effectiveness and
directly sustain combat capabilities. An additional category of
processes called ``enablers'' completes the Air Force enterprise.
Examples of ``enablers'' include management of human resources,
finances, contracts, property plant and equipment, and information. The
enablers are important as they facilitate our core capabilities and
determine the overall efficiency of our enterprise.
The Air Force will enact business transformation from an integrated
enterprise perspective, examining every process and associated link.
Accordingly, we will employ industry best practices and identify
management metrics to improve process efficiency without degrading our
enterprise effectiveness; expand our customer's self-service management
capability and free up needed resources for the operational
communities; and provide real-time, accurate financial data for better
decision making. Already, acquisition reform has effected notable
improvements, including:
--(1) Streamlined our acquisition and contracting regulations,
replacing lengthy prescriptive sets of rules with brief
documents that emphasize speed, innovation, sensible risk
management, and elimination of time-consuming process steps
that have little value. As previously mentioned, our new
National Security Space acquisition process is an example of
progress in this area.
--(2) Created a Program Executive Office for Services to bring new
efficiency to the growing area of services contracts. This key
area, which accounts for nearly half of our procurement budget,
had no prior centralized coordination and oversight.
--(3) Developed and initiated System Metric and Reporting Tool
(SMART), putting real-time program status information on
everyone's desktop. This web-based application pulls data from
dozens of legacy reporting systems to give everyone from
program managers up to senior leadership direct visibility into
the ``health'' of hundreds of acquisition and modernization
programs. When fully deployed in fiscal year 2003, it will
automate the tedious and laborious process of creating Monthly
Acquisition Reports and possibly Defense Acquisition Executive
Summary reporting to OSD.
--(4) Empowered ``High Powered Teams'' of requirements and
acquisition professionals to create spiral development plans to
deliver initial capability to warfighters more quickly, and add
capability increments in future spirals.
--(5) Designed a Reformed Supply Support Program to improve the
spares acquisition process by integrating the support
contractor into the government supply system. Contractors now
have the same capability as government inventory control points
to manage parts, respond to base level requisitions, track
spares levels, and monitor asset movement.
--(6) Continued, with OSD support, expansion of the Reduction in
Total Ownership Cost (R-TOC) program, to identify critical cost
drivers, fund investments to address them, and generate cost
savings and cost avoidance. We also created standard processes
and a business case analysis model to use for initiatives
within R-TOC. In fiscal year 2003, OSD allocated $24.9 million
no-offset investments to R-TOC that will return $53.2 million
through fiscal year 2008. A planned $37.1 million investment
across the FYDP will save a projected $331 million in
operations and maintenance through fiscal year 2009.
These initiatives are only the beginning of a comprehensive and
aggressive approach to reforming business practices. Our efforts today
will have a direct effect on efficient and effective air and space
capability acquisition, both immediately and in the future.
Ensuring Readiness
Integrating systems and expanding business practices will not only
have dramatic effects on air and space capabilities, but also reduce
readiness challenges. However, we still face daunting, but
surmountable, obstacles. We must overcome a multitude of installations
and logistical issues to secure flexible and timely execution of
expeditionary requirements for joint warfighting.
Reconstituting and reconfiguring our expeditionary basing systems
and wartime stocks is a critical element of our force projection
planning. While we made significant strides in funding, we require
additional investments in bare base systems, vehicles, spares,
munitions, and pre-positioning assets. Our infrastructure investment
strategy focuses on three simultaneous steps. First, we must dispose of
excess facilities. Second, we must fully sustain our facilities and
systems so they remain combat effective throughout their expected life.
Third, we must establish a steady investment program to restore and
modernize our facilities and systems, while advancing our ability to
protect our people and resources from the growing threat of terrorism
at current, planned, and future operating locations--at home or abroad.
We are making progress. Improved vehicle fleet funding allowed us
to replace some aging vehicles with more reliable assets, including
alternative fuel versions to help meet federal fuel reduction mandates.
Targeted efficiencies in spares management and new fuels mobility
support equipment will improve supply readiness. In addition, our
spares campaign restructured Readiness Spares Packages and repositioned
assets to contingency sites. Moreover, to increase munitions readiness,
we expanded our Afloat Prepositioning Fleet capabilities, and continue
acquiring a broad mix of effects-based munitions in line with the
requirements of all TF CONOPS.
Finally, our ``Depot Maintenance Strategy and Master Plan'' calls
for major transformation in financial and infrastructure capitalization
to ensure Air Force hardware is safe and ready to operate across the
threat spectrum. To support this plan, we increased funding in fiscal
year 2004 for depot facilities and equipment modernization. We also
began a significant push to require weapon systems managers to
establish their product support and depot maintenance programs early in
the acquisition cycle and to plan and program the necessary investment
dollars required for capacity and capability. Additionally, we are
partnering with private industry to adopt technologies to meet
capability requirements. The results from these efforts will be
enhanced, more agile warfighter support through the critical enabler of
infrastructure.
Expanding AEF Personnel
The attacks of 9/11 significantly increased workload and stress in
a number of mission areas for our expeditionary forces. Manning for
these operations is drawn from our existing AEF packages. In order to
accommodate increased contingency requirements we are exploring options
to augment the existing AEF construct. Recent and ongoing efforts to
maximize the identification of deployable forces and align them with
AEF cycle, assisted in meeting immediate critical warfighting
requirements. However, some career fields remain seriously stressed by
the war on terrorism. Accordingly, our efforts focus on changing
processes that drive requirements not tuned to our AEF rhythm. We
developed formulas to measure, and gathered quantitative data to
evaluate, the relative stress amongst career fields to redirect
resources to the most critical areas. We also began a critical review
of blue-suit utilization, to ensure uniform airmen are used only where
absolutely necessary, and maximize the use of the civilian and contract
workforce for best service contribution and military essentiality.
We are refocusing uniformed manpower allocation on our distinctive
capabilities to reduce the stress on our active force. Additionally, we
are carefully considering technologies to relieve the increased
workload. These efforts exist within our longer-term work to
reengineer, transform, and streamline Air Force operations and
organizations, and have allowed us already to realign some new recruits
into our most stressed career fields.
Summary
As the two mediums with the most undeveloped potential, air and
space represent the largest growth areas for national security and the
greatest frontiers for joint warfighting. As such, air and space
operations will play an ever-increasing role in the security of America
and her allies. The Air Force will exploit technology, innovative
concepts of operations, organizational change, and our ability to
embrace creative ideas and new ways of thinking. We will bring to bear
the full suite of air and space capabilities for tomorrow's joint force
commander--drawing from every resource, integrating closely with all
services, and overcoming any obstacle to succeed.
NEXT HORIZON
The events of the last year have emphasized the dynamics of a new
international security era. The decade of new states following the Cold
War has been followed by the rise of non-state actors, many following a
path of aggression and destruction. Yet, just as America adapted to new
global dynamics in the past, we will again confront emerging challenges
with confidence and faith in our ability to meet the demands of
assuring freedom.
The Air Force remains dedicated to drawing on its innovation,
ingenuity, and resolve to develop far-reaching capabilities. The
ability to deliver effects across the spectrum of national security
requirements is the cornerstone of the vision and strategy of Air Force
planning and programming. In conjunction, and increasingly in
integration with ground, naval, marine, and other national agency
systems, the Air Force will play a central role in elevating joint
operations. We recognize the greatest potential for dominant American
military capabilities lies in the integration of our air and space
systems with those of other services and agencies, and our success in
this objective will be evident in every mission to deter, dissuade, or
decisively defeat any adversary.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much. General, you are
right about our generation. Most of our members were drafted
for that war, and this force is all volunteer, and it is a
different generation, and we do stand in awe. I see those young
men and women walking across that desert carrying those packs,
which includes all that protection gear for chemical and
biological warfare, and to see what they're doing, we have to
marvel at them. You have done an excellent job in training them
and they are demonstrating that training now, and I just can't
tell you how proud we are of them.
I am a little worried about what you said, though, Mr.
Secretary, about the age of the equipment that our young people
are flying. I don't know many people other than a few cracks,
that are going to work in a 50-year old car.
Senator Burns. Me.
Senator Stevens. I already said cracks.
But when we look at this, really the genius of the Air
Force is not those who are pilots, with due respect. It's the
mechanics. These people are doing an enormous job. I'm just
amazed that we don't have 50 percent of our planes red-lined
and not capable of flying. You're saying they were flying in
the eighties and in wartime, that's simply an amazing record
and I think somehow you ought to get a really outstanding kind
of award for those people maintaining those airplanes and
keeping them flying.
767 TANKER LEASE
I am compelled to ask, Mr. Secretary, about the decision on
the tankers, because as you know, those tankers now are
averaging 44 years of age. Some of them were opposed by Harry
Truman, they actually go back to those days, the fifties and
late forties. To have an average of 44 you have to have a few
out there of that age. Now what about the tanker decision in
terms of leasing the tankers?
Secretary Roche. Well, the Secretary of Defense has really
gotten himself involved in this, and it's a different approach,
as you know. The Air Force believed it had a good proposal, it
did require a lease buildup that had a high peak and then came
back down again. The things that he has sort of fed back to us
is the sense that yes, there is a real need for tankers. The
notion that planes can fly forever, I think we've dispelled.
And by the way, we recognize that it was the Air Force that
sent a study over a few years ago that said replacements would
be required by 2030. That was a paper study done by analysts
who unfortunately never lived with real objects like ships and
airplanes, and understood corrosion and understood delaminating
aluminum. So we're overcoming some of our own bad promotion.
He fully agrees with that. He also recognizes that re-
engining very old airplanes doesn't solve the problem and it's
not the engines that are the problems, it is the corrosive
effects to the main aircraft. And he has asked his staff to
work with us to see if there is a way that we can satisfy the
needs to begin tanker replacement early and at the same time
not have such a big bump in the budget, and we are working with
his staff.
It is now a very congenial working relationship. It is no
longer--it never was really adversarial, it was more gee, this
is so odd, so different, this lease notion, but now we're
taking a look at leases, combinations of things, we're working
very much together, and I would hope we can have something back
to him so that he can make a final decision within the next
couple of weeks. But, the war is taking up a lot of his time,
unfortunately.
Senator Stevens. Well, it is a difficult issue to address
during a war, but very clearly, we're going to get to the point
where we have some capability of rotating some of those older
assets out of this tanker fleet, we're going to have to get new
ones in there, and I am disturbed about that.
C-17 AIRCRAFT
What about the C-17s? Are those the workhorse today of the
Air Force? Last year we thought we authorized 15 new aircraft
and there are only 11 in this budget.
Secretary Roche. Sir, last year when we heard you
authorized and directed us to put in money for 15 for this
year, we were doing so, it was causing a budget difficulty that
we discussed with the Office of the Secretary. We noticed that
because of what you did last year, you put a lot of money up
front, and that allowed for the fact that 15 airplanes had come
off the production line every year very smoothly, to the
position that if we were to buy the 15 this year, four of them
would go into backlog. In other words, they wouldn't be built
in 2004, they would really be built in 2005. And so we----
Senator Stevens. Why? I don't understand that.
Secretary Roche. Because 15 come out each year and because
of prior funding, there are 15 about to come out. There are
four already in backlog. If we would do 15 more, we only
increase backlog. By ordering 11, they all get built in 2004
and then we continue because of the fact that there is an
existing line. But we ask that this only be considered, this
proposal. We recognize that we did not do exactly what we were
directed to do.
The reason that you had the concerns last year was we were
busting limits on advance procurement in a number of years.
Because of the cash infusion that was made by the committee
last year, you have set up a situation where we can in fact
save the taxpayer a good bit of money by having this very
smooth and still producing 15 a year, but not spending money a
year earlier than necessary.
Senator Stevens. How many total are you going to acquire
under this new approach?
Secretary Roche. It would be the same number of airplanes
as before, sir. It would be 60 in this multiyear plus the
others, for a total of 180.
Senator Stevens. You're not reducing the number at all?
Secretary Roche. No, sir.
Senator Stevens. The final number remains the same?
Secretary Roche. Yes, sir.
Senator Stevens. Senator Inouye.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY INVESTIGATION
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. General Jumper, I
would like to begin with your last item, the Academy. We have
been told that the Air Force has rejected an outside review
panel to look over the situation and make their own assessment.
Some of my colleagues have been inquiring, why reject this
proposal. Can you tell us why?
General Jumper. Sir, first and foremost, we believe that
this is the Air Force's problem to fix. We do have the
Department of Defense Inspector General (DOD IG) in with us on
this investigation and they are doing a portion of the
investigation to look into the cases that have arisen, to help
us with that part of it. The Secretary and I have been out
there personally, we have had our team out there three times.
We have gotten to the point now where the data that we're
getting is repetitive data, and we think we have a good
understanding of what the problems and issues are. We're being
transparent on this, we're sharing what we have with the
committee.
But this I believe, sir, is the responsibility of the
Secretary and myself to go fix this and we intend to do that.
And we are sharing our data, but this is our responsibility.
We're the ones that are accountable, sir, and for our own sake
and the sake of our Air Force, we want to press on to this
solution.
Secretary Roche. May I comment, sir?
Senator Inouye. Please.
Secretary Roche. The interesting thing about the Academy,
Senator, is it's not a university. We have 4,200 cadets,
typically between the age of 18 to 23, and we don't have
graduate students, married graduate students, and it is not a
university. The only thing that is like it is West Point, the
Naval Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, and possibly the
Maritime Academy.
When you have a gender distribution of 84 percent men and
16 percent women, it is very different than at an American
university which is now over 50 percent women and under 50
percent men.
It's in a military culture. We're taking young people from
around the United States and putting them together. The thing
that we looked at when we went at this is, if we were to have a
safety problem or something else, we would want to learn about
the problem and deal with it ourselves rather than sending it
to some outsiders who may not understand the culture as well.
The second thing we have going for us is we now have a
cadre of women officers, spectacular officers, and the first
graduates from 1980 are now Colonels or just about becoming
Colonels. We have maintainers who are Major Generals, we have a
number of women officers in place, and we felt that the experts
on military life, the Academy life, problems of sexual assault,
et cetera, we had the best experts in the world to deal with
that, women who had attended our Air Force Academy, who
understood it, who understood our Air Force, who could help us.
And they have been wonderful in helping us.
RESERVES
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary,
according to the latest reports, 36,200 reservists are now
deployed throughout the world, including a high portion of
critical specialists. The law presently limits service to 24
months, and there is some indication that we might be facing
shortages. Do you have any plans to request extending the 24
months?
Secretary Roche. At this stage, Senator, what we have done
is when those were mobilized, we put a program in to demobilize
as rapidly as we could, taking into account the plans of the
individual reservists. You have to give them some certainty. If
they go to their employer and say they're going to be gone for
6 months, sometimes it just causes a problem if you send them
back in 3 months. So we try to work with them, we try to make
the transition in, smooth, and transition out, smooth.
We had gotten that number down to under 14,000. Of that,
9,000 were in force protection, protecting bases, a number of
bases here, plus all the new bases we have created overseas. We
recognize that we have until July 2003 to address that problem
and that's why you've seen us effectively hire 8,000 Army
guardsmen to protect our bases. I believe if you go to Bolling
Air Force Base now, you will find it's our Army colleagues
protecting the base, and this was something that was worked out
between General Jumper and General Shinseki, and it's a
wonderful thing to do. That takes some of the pressure off that
9,000.
It's our hope this war will be over soon enough that we can
once again keep our word to these men and women and get them
back to their civilian jobs as soon as we can, so at this stage
we don't see a request for extension. We would rather be
motivated to find ways to get them back to their normal life.
We are concerned, that if we overwork the Guard and Reserve,
their ability to recruit will be very, very difficult.
We are now operating with something like 1,800 volunteers,
which is wonderful. These are men and women who see a chunk of
time, they can give it to us, and they have been doing so.
PERSONNEL TRANSFORMATION
General Jumper. Sir, if I might add, as part of Secretary
Rumsfeld's personnel transformation, he has asked us to go out
and find ways to make sure that people who are wearing the
uniform are doing jobs that require people to be in uniform.
This is another part of Secretary Roche's efforts, and in that
effort we have gone out and found about 12,000 people in our
Air Force who we think their job could be done in another way.
We won't get all of those back, but I think we will get a
goodly portion of those back. Also, technology can help us out
with things like guarding bases. Those are the things we're
looking at right now to see if we can make sure that the demand
for people in uniform is done correctly.
Senator Inouye. Mr. Secretary, we have been advised that as
a result of the long period of deployment, some of your
reservists are experiencing financial problems. Is the
Department planning to do something about this?
GUARD AND RESERVE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
Secretary Roche. Not that I'm aware, Senator. In some cases
that I have been able to get into personally, I've known
employers and I've been able to call employers, but I don't
know enough. We have a program borrowing from World War II
where you recall, sir, that in World War II, the services
honored employers who helped their employees get to war. We now
have gone to our reserves and guardsmen--and by the way, we're
not allowed to keep a list of their employers for some privacy
reason--but we've asked them if they would give us the names of
their employers, and to each of them we have sent a thank you
letter and a special pin with the E.
We will shortly do the same thing for parents, for parents
being able to walk around and letting us know that their son or
daughter is serving.
With respect to financial conditions, both the Guard and
Reserve try to take into account those members who have that
problem, and it is a way to relieve them of volunteers, or if
there's some other way to get them back to the jobs as soon as
they can, they do. Right now, it's a very stressing thing and I
don't know of any particular program that the Department is
looking at to worry about the financial conditions when these
men and women come on active duty and leave their jobs.
General Jumper. Senator, if I might add, as you well know,
there are a great number of employers out there that take the
burden themselves to make up the difference between the salary
that the member gets when he or she comes on active duty and
the salary they had before. These are great Americans out there
who are helping carry this burden. Not all of them can afford
to do that, and it is a concern, sir.
IRAQI AIRCRAFT
Senator Inouye. Like most Americans, I have been following
the events as they unfold in Iraq, and I have been very
impressed by the efficiency and the accuracy of your personnel.
It appears that possibly as a result of that, there are no
Iraqi aircraft flying around. Does it mean that the Iraqis have
no aircraft left?
General Jumper. Sir, the Iraqis do have more than 100 very
capable aircraft left. I mean, one could conclude by looking at
the actions over there that they actually threw up their hands
and gave up as the first order of business. I have been
surprised at the lack of coordination that I have seen in their
response both with their surface to air missiles and their
airplanes. They do have capable airplanes.
And as you know, Senator, as the Secretary mentioned,
starting back in June or so, we started working away with a
more aggressive enforcement of United Nations Security Council
resolutions. In responding to violations that put command and
control communications lines, surface-to-air missiles in the
wrong areas, we were prompt about taking those out, and we
think that possibly has had an effect on their ability to
organize a responsive defense.
I would hasten to add that you still don't know what you
don't know. Although this is unexplained, they still have
capability down there, and we have to certainly respect that,
sir.
Senator Inouye. May I ask one more? Mr. Secretary, you
mentioned the GPS jammers. Are they the ones that the Russians
provided the Iraqis?
Secretary Roche. May I answer that off line to you, sir? I
don't know if I can answer that in open session. But I would
like to reemphasize that we find it wonderfully ironic that we
use GPS bombs against GPS jammers, and the bombs worked just
fine, Senator.
Senator Inouye. There must be something wrong.
Secretary Roche. Or something good about what you
appropriated 4 years ago, sir.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. We do follow the early bird rule. Senator
Durbin.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Senator Durbin. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would
like to return to this issue about the Air Force Academy for a
moment. I've followed it and I've spoken to my colleague
Senator Allard, who I think has really been a leader on this
issue, and he first had one of the young women come forward. He
has dealt with this responsibly and I think really drawn our
attention to it as a national issue.
It is a different issue from this side of the table than
most, because for 20 years I have been sending young men and
women from my congressional district in my State to the
academies. They were anxious to be appointed, they wanted to go
there, and I wanted to send them. And I really looked hard to
find young women who would be part of our modern military,
because I think that's an important element. And now we have
this scandalous report which may result in some dramatic
changes at the Academy.
Mr. Secretary, I would say to you that I wish you would
step back a moment from your earlier comment and think about
what you told us. When Senator Inouye asked you about an
outside review you said that these outsiders would not
understand our culture. That is a troubling statement, because
it is the culture of the last 10 years which has allowed this
scandal to grow rather than to disappear, and that culture
needs to be changed, clearly.
When we are talking about bringing in the experts, I think
you made a good point. We could bring in women who have served
in the military, presently serve in the military, who could
give excellent insight into how this culture could be changed.
But I hope that you will concede to me that change is necessary
in the culture and understand that the acceptance of it is just
not acceptable.
Secretary Roche. Senator, thank you very much for your
question, because I clearly did not communicate. The culture at
the Academy absolutely must change, and I could go on for a
great length of time agreeing with you on point after point
after point.
I meant the culture of the United States Air Force. A young
woman on one of our regular Air Force bases, an airman first
class, is far better protected, far better dealt with when a
problem emerges, the chain of command goes into action very
quickly. That doesn't mean we don't have a problem now and
then; it is, we are very confident when the chain of command is
held responsible and accountable to all parties, and that we
have crisis response teams, and we have first sergeants and
senior enlisted. She is a lot better off than is a female today
at the Air Force Academy.
Our Air Force culture is very good. The Academy culture
must change. And the reason the two of us have taken this
personally is that we recognize that this is a culture issue.
You can't just fire a couple of generals and think the problem
is solved because you would have missed the issue.
It goes back to, what struck us most in the cases we have
over a 10-year period, there are cases there, some we
prosecuted, some with insufficient evidence, there are three of
the 23 rape allegations made over the last 10 years where the
young women recanted and said it never happened. That's bad.
But when we start having officers we know come up to us and say
General, there is something you need to know, when I was at the
Academy, this is what happened to me, that really hurts us,
because it means that women have been victims in the United
States Air Force.
We want any assailant out of our Air Force. If there is
someone out there attacking our young airmen, we want him out,
and we want them out, and we want to help these young women
help us cull these people out. The culture, you will see this
when we release our initial set of directions, and we will
still hold these individuals accountable, but we are going
right at the culture. But we recognize that you don't change a
culture with one member, it means starting from the top, which
means it starts with us. It means we go back out there over and
over and over.
We both have been involved, we changed the honor system
last year, we changed the recruiting athletics system, we
changed the curriculum. This area we thought was handled, but
it clearly was not, and it goes over a long period of time. In
1993, this all occurred and we thought we had solved it, but
those actions had secondary effects that made some of it worse,
so we absolutely have to address it now as a cultural problem.
It has to be addressed now, because in less than 90 days,
Senator, including some people you have nominated, they will
have a new class beginning, including 189 women, there will be
a total of 714 women at the Academy in the fall. We have to
make the first steps so that the families of these young women
coming in June can believe that their daughters are okay and
also the families of the cadets will believe that due process
is going to be applied.
Now having done the initial set of moves, we have the
experts--for instance, the Federal task force on domestic
violence, which looks at domestic violence against another in a
family setting, which very much replicates it. We're going to
change it, but we are going to make changes immediately and
then start turning somewhere, as compared to if I need 10--
which experts, this set of experts, that set, wait for 6
months, and meanwhile have another class coming to the Academy.
Senator Durbin. This is a very serious issue and I'm glad
for your response, because I think it helped to explain what
you said earlier.
I hope that in the course of this, both you and the
General, in your commitment to transparency, will bring in
those credible parties who will help to restore the integrity
and the reputation of a great institution, the U.S. Air Force
Academy, and I hope that you will do that.
MEDICAL EVACUATION MISSION
I have one other issue that I will raise if I have a minute
here, Mr. Chairman, I see I have a very brief period of time,
and that was our discovery that in the budget request, there is
a proposal to discontinue the so-called Nightingale Mission,
the aeromedical evacuation mission, and to privatize it, to
contract it out, and to suggest that we would use available
space on C-130s and C-17s to move people who are injured or
ill, where at the present time we are using C-9s dedicated to
that purpose.
Despite my interest in it because of Scott Air Force Base
and obvious reasons, it does raise a serious question to me as
to whether or not we can privatize and contract out something
so critically important as the movement of personnel who are
ill or very sick or injured or in some way have been victimized
by combat. And I wonder if we could have your response to that,
and if we could expand the conversation to talk about some
options that might be considered.
Secretary Roche. Sir, let me let General Jumper start, and
this is frankly the question we hoped you would ask us.
General Jumper. Sir, I know of no effort out there to
privatize the medical evacuation. I think the effort, first of
all, starts with the C-9s and the age of the C-9s and the
significant costs to either bring them up to current Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) standards--they don't meet any of
those standards, or to replace them.
When we have out there active in the circuit every day our
whole fleet of strategic airlift capability, our C-17s, our C-
5s and our C-130s, that are moving around at present more than
100 countries every day, that provide the opportune lift to get
patients from one place to another. That's the thing we hope to
be able to take advantage of. As a matter of fact, we did not
use the C-9 in any of the evacuations during Operation Allied
Force in Kosovo, nor in Afghanistan, because of the limitations
of that kind of an airplane.
So, we have been successful in taking advantage of our air
fleet. I will make sure that what I said to you about
contracting out is correct, because that's the first I've heard
of such a thing, but I have been surprised before.
Senator Durbin. If I could mention one other thing, Mr.
Secretary. I'll end here because my time is up. And that is,
while I had an opportunity to go with the congressional
delegation to Afghanistan and flew in a C-130, great crew,
terrific performance, pretty old plane, but to put litters in
the back of that plane for people who are sick, I don't think
is an adequate response and I don't think it mirrors the
quality of care we would ask from the Air Force and many
others.
Secretary Roche. If I may, Senator, we may every now and
then inside the United States use an air ambulance service for
a one-time situation, so that may be the contract, but
generally we are not. The C-130Js are much newer. The preferred
plane is the C-17, which we can in fact, and we have these
modular systems for the medical pallets. We've both talked to
the Surgeon General's people who we're dealing on the aircraft,
and with the Air Mobility Command (AMC) commander and United
States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) at Scott Air Force
Base. C-9s are old, these other planes are far more viable in
getting around, and it is the judgment of the Air Mobility
Command that we can do this with the other aircraft.
The one area that we are working on together is in the
Pacific, the bases are so far apart for our own active duty and
dependents, getting them to specialized hospitals, let's say
Kadena or someplace else, that may require us having to convene
with some other aircraft.
Senator Durbin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Senator Domenici.
Senator Domenici. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
General, it's good to see you, and Mr. Secretary, it's great to
see you again.
Obviously this is a day when we have talked about parochial
issues and important issues in our home State, and we wonder
whether it's even the right forum because our troops are at war
overseas, it seems almost insignificant that we talk about
local issues such as Holloman or Cannon or Kirtland.
I want to join in complimenting both of you as the leaders
of our Air Force. The performance of our troops in Iraq is so
spectacular, it is difficult to comprehend. I never thought
we'd see our forces have such an advantage. I've been here 30
years and I get to follow development and evolution of our
Military Forces, but I frankly never believed that we could
move so exponentially in 10 years with reference to quality and
technology. It's obvious that you're doing it right and we are
proud to be part of it, at least in paying attention and doing
what you ask us to do.
PROMOTIONS
And Mr. Secretary, I'm extremely pleased that we have
somebody as competent as you there. I have only one observation
about the makeup of the hierarchy of the Air Force. I'm a real
sucker for big science, I love big science, and we have a lot
of it in New Mexico. We have the directed energy activities at
Kirkland Air Force Base and it's the headquarters for laser
research, and I went out there recently for a visit, and you
know what I would like to see? I would like to see a couple or
more two-star or three-star generals that are not just pilots
but are Ph.D.s in chemistry, physics and engineering.
Secretary Roche. Oh, I agree with you.
Senator Domenici. I believe you ought to do that.
Secretary Roche. As a Ph.D. myself, I think it's a great
idea.
Senator Domenici. I think you ought to just promote the
brightest Air Force people and send them to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), give them whatever they need to
get a Ph.D., and then let them come. What confidence we'd have
if they were walking around the laser facility instead of a
colonel. He's great, but he has to relate to an engineering
Ph.D. from a school, and the few times I have seen a one-star
general, I've thought how magnificent that is. I urge that you
start a program to encourage them, give them extra incentives,
get 8 or 10 of them graduated from California Institute of
Technology, get the best and get them out to our Air Force lab,
that's what we ought to do.
AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Secretary Roche. Thank you for your support, Senator. We
have reinvigorated our Air Force Institute of Technology
(AFIT). We have ended the notion that you had to go get a paper
master's program in order to be promoted. We have a program now
that will send every one of our officers either to a graduate
school or to a similar experience. We are trying to take our
scientists and engineers, with your help, we're giving them
bonuses. We're trying to make their careers more exciting.
We have had a whole rerecruiting campaign of these young
people, because when you go to one of our labs, the Air Force
Research Laboratory (AFRL), or go to the laser facility at
Kirtland, as we've both done and did together, you see some of
these young officers who have all of the brights in the world,
they love what they're doing, they love the fact that their
work is going to be meaningful to somebody in combat, and
somehow we lose them, and we can't lose them.
And I'm proud to say that even though my partner is a
fighter pilot, he was the first to say well, for heaven's sake,
why don't we get them their doctorates and keep them.
Senator Domenici. Mr. Secretary, you wouldn't lose those
scientists, those military guys if they had two stars on them
and they were scientists. You're losing them because they are
only colonels and they don't want to stay there very long, and
they're masters, they're not Ph.D.s. If you get them up there,
they will stay there, and if you have them in that hierarchy,
they will be glad to stay.
Secretary Roche. We need more.
Senator Domenici. I want to ask about the Predator.
Senator Stevens. Would the Senator yield for a second?
Senator Domenici. Yes.
Senator Stevens. Why don't we pay them the equivalent of
being generals instead of paying them as colonels? Why don't
you jump their rates of pay as opposed to their grade in
service?
Secretary Roche. It's not a bad idea. We're talking about
bonuses in the system for the younger ones. We take science and
engineering seriously. Can we take that to study, sir?
There is also a point, though, in making them leaders and
showing the young officers that there are role models ahead. We
have a couple. We could do more because we are so highly
dependent on technology for our service.
Senator Domenici. If you did that, you would have the
pilots wondering why they are being discriminated against, so
you don't want to do that. In any event, it seems to me that
this is an idea whose time has come.
PREDATOR
In any event, let me talk about the Predator. First of all,
when do you expect the selection process to be completed, and
can you give us an update on the environmental assessment
that's being performed and for bases recommended for the
Predator squadrons, either of you?
General Jumper. Sir, there is an ongoing environmental
assessment right now for where we might go with the Predator.
Our plan right now as we're continuing to build Predator at a
rate of about two per month, to maintain Indian Springs as our
center of excellence for the Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV). When we start building the numbers up, we will make
decisions for the future about where and how to expand out the
criteria.
As you well know, it has to do with being adjacent to
uncontrolled airspace, the weather has to be decent, the winds
have to be within a certain limit, et cetera, et cetera. So
those things are ongoing, sir, but we don't have a timetable.
Secretary Roche. They're also basing more of them overseas
than they are at home right now, sir.
Senator Domenici. Yes, I understand, but sooner or later we
will have them based at home. And if we need weather plus all
the rest, it looks like Holloman has an exciting future in
terms of that.
MELROSE BOMBING RANGE
Let's talk about the Melrose Bombing Range over on the east
side of New Mexico and its supersonic testing capacity.
Supersonic land facilities are very, very important. They're
doing all that testing now over water. What's the status of the
study with reference to Melrose and the possibility for it
having supersonic capacity?
Secretary Roche. Sir, I have just come upon this and I'm
not up to speed on it. May I get back to you on that?
Senator Domenici. Absolutely.
[The information follows:]
Melrose Bombing Range
Sir, my staff has worked this issue with Air Combat Command
and has completed a draft of a study to determine the
requirements to extend supersonic capability at Melrose Range.
The study is now in the process of review to ensure accuracy;
we will provide a copy within the next 30 days.
Secretary Roche. And by the way, the issue you raised,
however, is a critical one. Oftentimes we think we will have a
range but then because of restrictions we can't go supersonic.
As we move to an era of super cruise, it becomes terribly
important to us to be able to do it over places other than
water.
Senator Domenici. Well, Melrose is over there by Cannon,
but it has served the purpose of Holloman, Cannon, and some
from Texas. It's a very big range. We acquired it so as to
create diversity about 15 years ago, and I think it would be
looked at for supersonic land testing, which people are more
than willing to take a look and listen, but we have to do it
right so we don't surprise them if in fact it's chosen.
CV-22
Now what about the CV-22, what's the current status of the
testing and what is the latest schedule for training squadrons
at Kirtland, if either of you know?
Secretary Roche. The CV-22, sir, is in a position where
it's having to prove itself, and the Navy and Marine Corps in
fact have the lead. We have our own special op reader Air Force
personnel associated with it. It's a testing program now that
has been backed into test, it is encouraging them, but it still
has a way to go. We believe that if it tests out well, we would
like to have it in our Air Force Special Operating Command
(AFSOC). Whether or not we would use it for combat search and
rescue is still to be determined, because it has some issues
about how it flies close to the ground and may not make it
worthwhile. We put on hold what we would do to get them until
we find whether or not this program is something that we in
fact will buy, and is one where we and the Marine Corps and the
Navy would be making a decision and making a recommendation to
the Secretary on it after the test program is over. But as you
know, it has had a very rough test program.
Senator Domenici. General, did you have anything to add to
that?
General Jumper. No, sir, I can't add to that.
Senator Domenici. Thank both of you very much. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Thank you. Senator Shelby.
Senator Shelby. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
PREDATOR HELLFIRE SYSTEM
General Jumper, could you talk a little bit, maybe not
everything, about the significance of the joint coordination
that took place between the Air Force and the Army to engineer
and integrate the Predator Hellfire system?
General Jumper. Yes, sir. We----
Senator Shelby. I think that's a great accomplishment.
General Jumper. It's a great story. The Predator story is a
long and tortured one. It came to us in 1996 as a technology
demonstration, and we took it over years and developed it into
what it is, to include the first step of putting a laser
designator on it so it actually designates targets on the
ground, and then shortly thereafter by putting the Hellfire
missile on it.
Of course we had to go to the Army to work the integration
of the Hellfire missile and we had superb cooperation.
Senator Shelby. They worked that out at Redstone, didn't
they?
General Jumper. Absolutely, out at Redstone. And with the
scientists at Redstone actually to do the warhead enhancements
that we have done actually just over the last year or so. And
the scientists actually at Redstone were the ones that helped
us with that development. We are continuing to work with them
for even future versions of the Hellfire that will overcome
some of the limitations of shooting it from higher altitude,
and that work continues, sir.
Senator Shelby. What you're basically doing is utilizing an
organic laboratory.
General Jumper. Absolutely.
Senator Shelby. Mr. Secretary?
Secretary Roche. I was going to say, we were both just
tickled pink. Our boss has told us, sometimes I see Hellfires
going into buildings and people coming out, and you know, Don
Rumsfeld says, why are they coming out? And we turned to
Huntsville and asked for some help, and the speed with which
they built the sleeve was just incredible.
AIR UNIVERSITY
Senator Shelby. Thank you. I want to switch over to the Air
University, General, or to both of you. Both of you know that
the Air University at Maxwell has seen a dramatic increase in
their training responsibilities, particularly for Reserve
Officer Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship recipients. I brought
this issue up with you before last year and I want to get your
thoughts again this year on how Maxwell is doing in meeting
their training challenges and do they have the funds to
continue this? I think it's very important to the Air Force.
General Jumper. Sir, let me just say, and you know this
very well, over the last few years at the Air University, we
have added the doctrine center, we've added the air and space
basic course, and we've increased the student flow through
there, and in every school that's housed there, in addition to
our law school, our chaplains, et cetera, et cetera, they all
go through Maxwell Air Force Base and all of its magnificent
history going back to the tactical school in the thirties.
We believe that everything there is adequately funded. As a
matter of fact, as we continue to find new ways to phase
students into the Air University that are in line with our
rotation cycles overseas, we have made accommodations for our
entire Expeditionary Aerospace Force concept so that throughout
the year we can phase students in there in modules, if you
will. That work is ongoing there, and that will increase the
student flow. We have looked at a whole new way to do the
correspondence courses that we have. Again, technology and
other things invested into the Air University. These things are
ongoing, sir, and it's really tremendous out there.
Senator Shelby. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Senator Cochran.
Senator Cochran. Mr. Chairman, thank you. We appreciate
very much the leadership and outstanding service that our
witnesses are providing to our country, particularly the
leadership of the Air Force in this challenging time.
C-17 AIRCRAFT
When General Myers was here the other day, the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he talked about and commented on the
unanticipated wear and tear on the C-17s and the aging of the
C-5 fleet as a result of the high operating tempo during this
war against terror. Do you believe the planned procurement of
C-17s and upgrades to the C-5s are sufficient to meet our
future airlift needs?
Secretary Roche. Senator, I will start and then ask General
Jumper to comment. The C-17 is one of those airplanes that you
dream for. We accepted it one day and in 48 hours it's in the
air and working. It has just been a workhorse, it has been
terrific, and I have had the pleasure of flying on them. It has
just proven what people said could be done was done, even
though the program, as the chairman knows well, went from 220,
cut to 110, cut to 40, almost zero, almost zero, almost zero,
limped to 40, 80, boom, now 120 going to 180.
C-5 AIRCRAFT
We are going to take the C-5, the C-5Bs and modernize
those. The question that we face is to what degree can we take
the C-5As and fully extend their life usefully, as compared to
just creating another maintenance stream for a long period of
time that becomes too costly. We will take and diagnose two of
the Bs, then take a look at an A or two, we are creating an
air-worthiness board which parallels what the Navy does in its
board of inspection survey, because we now have so many old
airplanes we need to put together teams of real experts on
materials, structures, to be able to advise us, to say this
aircraft by hull number has to be retired.
If we cannot get a good answer by modernizing some of the
C-5As, recognizing we do all 50 of the Bs, then we will have to
determine how many more C-17s are required to make up the
shortfall in the lift requirements that we have. That is our
current plan. Meanwhile, the C-17s are on multiyear, going
along fine. We will review those other studies, and we should
be able to find out and understand what it requires to
modernize the As and how many of them we could modernize, and
then do all the Bs, and then make a decision between doing the
As or more C-17s.
General Jumper. Sir, if I might add, the objective out
there from the mobility requirement study is 54.5 ton miles per
day. It will be worth our while, especially following this
conflict, to go back and take a look and see if that number
remains adequate, because that number was established with a
completely different set of assumptions. But in order to get to
the 54.5 in the course that the Secretary described is the
course that we are on right now.
Secretary Roche. We wish we just had a problem of building,
Senator, it would be easier. We have aging across the board and
trying to have budget fit these different categories after,
frankly, 10, or 8 to 12 years of not investing. We don't have a
capital budget and we don't have a process to reinvest a
depreciation rate. So we face you with these big bumps of
modernization, which is a shame.
GLOBAL HAWK
Senator Cochran. Another point that I recall the chairman
making when he was here before the committee was the importance
of the capability of these unmanned aircraft to surveil and
identify activity through intelligence gathering. The
usefulness obviously is very important in a war like we are
conducting in Iraq right now. My impression is that Global Hawk
has proven to be very valuable to our operations.
My question is, are we moving fast enough to procure
systems such as Global Hawk and other necessary unmanned aerial
vehicle variants that we see developing? I know Northrop
Grumman is developing a Fire Scout as another option. What is
your impression of these new systems and are we integrating
them into the Air Force quickly enough?
Secretary Roche. First of all, Senator, I think the Air
Force integration is one where people keep wondering why
fighter pilots are doing this, and we're past that. We are
absolutely past that. When we have the chief fighter pilot of
the Air Force as one of the greatest fans of unmanned vehicles,
it's amazing that his leadership has made everyone recognize
that there is a complementary nature of manned and unmanned
aircraft.
General Franks really did us an enormous favor when we both
asked him if we could put some drones over Afghanistan that
were not fully developed, not ready for prime time, in order to
learn how these operated in war. We probably have saved the
American taxpayer an enormous amount of money by having the
chance to build something, play with it, use it, understand it,
change it, go back.
We're getting the same permission from General Franks here
in the Iraqi war. That's allowed us to do things very quickly
like the armed Predator, like the sleeve on the Hellfire, like
looking at Global Hawk for multiple types of missions,
including taking some of the bandwidth off of the satellites
and having Global Hawks behave as lower altitude satellites.
It's led us to take the multi-sensor command and control
aircraft and to think about part of the back end controlling
some drones.
And then taking a leaf from history, in the late thirties
at Maxwell Air Force Base and the Wright Patterson Air Force
Base, the Army Air Corps procured small numbers of a number of
different types of aircraft and allowed the young pilots to say
here's how these are best used, here's how things go. We've
been trying to replicate that. And in open session I can't tell
you how many families, I can tell you it's more than you can
count on one hand, the families of unattended vehicles plus
remotely piloted aircraft, we have found in certain
circumstances having a pilot who has to make an attack decision
is very important, and also just how the pilot's instincts take
over.
You know, a pilot can see a black cloud and won't go into
it. A drone will go exactly where you told it to go and then
you may find you have a problem because you're in a black
cloud. Or when an Iraqi Flogger is coming in at our Predators,
our pilots use certain techniques to do that--alter what the
Flogger could see. We, by playing and understanding these and
getting our young people involved, it has made a huge
difference.
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE PILOTS
Now we had a cultural problem when a number of our young
pilots thought that somehow they had failed us and that's why
they were being assigned to unmanned vehicles. We have both
visited every operating unit, we've both spent time at Indian
Springs. We've now found every one of their problems like gate
time, they didn't get gate time, or they weren't eligible for
medals because quite often they were not in the region,
although some of them have killed more people than a heck of a
lot of our other pilots. They can get medals now. They worried
about where they would go on their next set of orders. We make
it clear to them that they are pioneers and we just milk their
brains, as well as the maintainers on these aircraft.
PREDATOR B
And from that we have developed the notion of a basic
Predator closer to a razor blade as cheap as possible, and it's
a killer scout. Predator B is going to be a hunter killer, fly
higher, carry more. Global Hawk is equivalent to a low altitude
satellite, it can do all kinds of things. And so we believe
that our procurement program is much greater than it was a few
years ago. And then there are others that I can't discuss in
open. This will form a set of families that will let us
replicate what happened prior to World War II where the United
States was able to pick the best precisely because it
experimented as well. General?
General Jumper. Sir, if I could just add a few points. One
is that we have to make sure that we understand the true value
of these remotely piloted and unattended vehicles to the fight,
and the main virtue that we see is this notion of persistence.
We had a Predator here just a few days ago that flew a 33-hour
mission. It's this persistence that enables you to stare and to
predict, and to do it day and night that makes this small
airplane so valuable to us. We've got to make sure that we
understand the value of these things and that when we project
out to where our capabilities need to go in the future that
we're not just merely taking people out of airplanes.
One of the issues that we discuss often is, would we be
buying this vehicle if it were manned, because the vehicle does
something unique that we can't do with anything else. That's
one of the litmus tests that we have to make sure that we pass.
And if we can't pass that test, then we have to make sure that
we're not taking the judgment out of the airplane that is
absolutely required to be there.
That's why we make this distinction about remotely piloted
aircraft. We're going to have a rated person at the controls of
the Predator as long as there is a requirement to bear the
burden of putting weapons on targets and being responsible for
the lives of people on the ground, just the way we burden our
people who fly in the airplanes. It's those kinds of things
that we are thinking our way through in a deliberate way before
we make big commitments out there for the future.
But we understand the urgency, sir, and we are pressing on
with it.
Secretary Roche. In the notion of range of persistence, the
third one that we have come upon is this notion of what we call
digital acuity. It says that a drone in its 23rd hour of
operation is just as sharp as it was in the second hour of
operation, where a human being tires, a human being starts to
lose interest, where a digital system does not. So we're
looking for comparative advantage in each case and we have
proven that drones or remotely piloted aircraft and piloted
aircraft can operate in the same airspace very comfortably. A
Navy F-18 in Afghanistan asked the Predator a question, and the
Predator answered the question.
Senator Cochran. Thank you.
Senator Stevens. Senator Dorgan.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
I have had the opportunity to tour the Global Hawk, the
Predator and F-22 programs, and I am very impressed.
IRAQ WAR NEWS COVERAGE
I want to ask you about the Air Guard, their jet fighters,
B-52s, but before I do that, let me ask a question that's been
bothering me. With this 24-7 news coverage of the war and 500
journalists embedded in our Armed Forces who are fighting that
war and with all of the networks actually having begun
advertising before the war began about their cast of characters
for analysts and interpreters, in the mornings I have watched
retired generals and admirals, many people who have served this
country with great distinction standing on full-scale maps on
the floors and walls with pointers, and they're describing
where our troops are moving, where they're headed, what they
think might or might not happen. Some have even been mildly
critical, I believe.
But I watch all that and I think, this is a wealth of
information to me as an American citizen. I also have access to
top secret briefings, as do my colleagues. What I see in the
morning on television or at night by many of these analysts,
former colleagues of yours, makes me wonder. Is there any cause
for anxiety or concern inside the Pentagon about what's being
disclosed with all these pointers? It's a wealth of information
to me and to the American people. Is it also a wealth of
information to the Iraqis, who I assume watch Cable News
Network (CNN) and other news services? Do you have any anxiety
or concerns about that, General?
General Jumper. From time to time some of the things I have
seen have actually caused me some anxiety, because it has
appeared to me from time to time that some of these people, not
necessarily former military people who have access to
classified information, have actually talked about things that
shouldn't be talked about.
By and large what I see is a description of ongoing
operations that are usually lagging in events and would be of
little help. I can tell you that most, not all, most of the
people who formerly wore a uniform are acutely aware of this
and they take great care to make sure that what they are going
to say does not divulge anything. Also, it's fascinating to see
how captivating this notion of a camera going along in the back
of a Bradley for hours and hours is to the American people out
there, and of course that gets the American people right down
to the tactical level, which I think is good for them, because
they get to see our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines at
work.
B-52 BOMBERS
Senator Dorgan. Thank you, General, for your response.
Let me ask about the B-52s. You talked about the KC-135s
and the aging and corrosion. That same circumstance is not
present with the B-52s, is it?
Secretary Roche. No, sir, and there are a couple of
reasons. One is, the design of the plane was such that it was
overdesigned and in particular, if I can demonstrate--my
colleague does it better than I do. B-52s have wings like this,
and 135s have wings like that. In one case water flows into the
fuselage and in the other case it flows out, so we have not had
the problem of assembly metal and the cabin corrosion with B-
52s. Also, over the course of time because they were nuclear
bombers, there has been major structural rework done on those
planes. And then lastly and most importantly, we don't fly the
plane anywhere near the way it was intended to be flown. We
have found that it serves a particularly wonderful mission if
it goes up high, launches, stand off in defended areas, or over
the top in areas where there is no air defense, so how we use
the plane makes a big difference. And we kept 76 of the best
from many hundreds.
Senator Dorgan. And in fact when they talk about the age of
the plane, in large respect they are not that old; much and
most of that plane has been replaced and updated.
Secretary Roche. Yes.
Senator Dorgan. But I just wanted to make that point, that
we don't have the same circumstance with the B-52 even though
it's a very old system.
General Jumper. Right.
AIR NATIONAL GUARD
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask about the Air Guard and the F-
22s that will come on line at some point, and I happen to share
your view. I hope we can keep this schedule moving. I think
it's an impressive airplane and I hope very much that we can
continue to fund it and move it along. As we do that, planes
have become available for the Reserve components and the Guard.
As you know, one of the best Guard units are the Happy
Hooligans from Fargo. In fact, they were the first up to
protect the Capitol the day of the attack on 9/11, the first
fighters scrambled from Langley. They have won the William Tell
award twice, and I think the only Air Guard unit perhaps to
ever win it, and certainly to win it twice against all the best
pilots in the world. But the best pilots are now flying the
oldest airplanes, which gives them some amount of angst and
myself as well. And we're trying to evaluate what's the future
here, when will they get their F-15s or modern F-16s? You and I
have talked about that a great deal, General, and Mr.
Secretary, we have as well. Any news on that front?
Secretary Roche. Much depends on whether we can keep the F/
A-22 schedule on. We are very aware of the Happy Hooligans'
record and we also are aware that they have a strong interest
in F-15s if not the F-16Cs, and that's something we have in our
heads. We would like to flow these down when appropriate to the
Hooligans and other members of the Guard to get some aircraft.
The second thing we would wish to do, as you know, we have
a group that's called blended wing at Warner Robins on the
Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JOINT STARS)
aircraft, which was a radical experiment that General Jumper
and I wanted to take, which was to have active and guardsmen in
the identical wing with full-time missions. Right now the head
of that wing is a guardsman. And other than some constitutional
issues of someone empowered by a State giving orders to a
Federal force, it has worked wonderfully, and this war is going
to prove that we can do this. The only thing we would like to
do different in the long run is to start to think of doing that
more in the Guard, among other things to get F/A-22s into the
Guard where we can blend wings.
Senator Dorgan. I will come back and talk to both of you at
other times on this issue.
ELECTRONIC WARFARE
Let me just ask two additional very brief questions. One,
B-52s and electronic warfare mission, I believe, General, you
testified to that over in the House. And the second, I want to
just ask, are you reasonably positive, do you feel generally
positive about the decision the Secretary might make with
respect to leasing 767s?
So if you could address those two things, the B-52
electronic warfare issue, and the 767.
Secretary Roche. How do you want to handle this?
General Jumper. I will take the B-52.
Sir, as you well know, we are pursuing a program to take a
very hard look at complementing the United States Navy and its
desire to replace the EA-6B in a jamming world with something
that can persist a little bit longer and can also help both the
Navy and the Air Force and the Marine Corps with stand-off
jamming that's persistent. And the platform we would like to
take a look at, of course, is the B-52. Take advantage of that
very large fuel tank that they have out on the wing tip----
Senator Dorgan. You said that was the size of a
condominium?
General Jumper. It's the size of a small condominium. When
you stand off it doesn't look that big, but when you walk it up
next to it, you can figure out you can live in it. But we could
take the work on the electronic jamming pods that has been done
for the Navy in the EF-18 and we could take that same
technology and leverage it for this pod, I think without
disturbing the rest of the mission of the aircraft at all. So
it can deploy long ranges, it can persist for long periods of
time and complement the shorter range F-18.
767 LEASE
Secretary Roche. With respect to the 767 lease, I would not
want to speak for Don Rumsfeld.
Senator Dorgan. I'm just asking how you feel.
Secretary Roche. I feel good about some variation of the
lease, because the Secretary clearly understands and accepts
and is probably, given his history as Secretary of Defense
earlier, recognizes that all these tankers were flying then.
And in fact, some of them were flying when he was still on
active duty, or just about. And that we do need new tankers and
this has to be done sensibly. The fact that we now have some
collegiality between his staff and the Air Force trying to
address this problem in a sensible manner, I must give special
praise to Secretary Aldridge. He has tried mightily to make the
points that need to be made and also to try to take into
account concerns of controllers and others, as well as Zone B,
and we are trying to come up with an alternative that's a
variation that in fact the Secretary could approve us going
forward, but we're working together for the first time.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you for your responses.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Two things. I have asked the staff to take a look at the
current GI bill, the Montgomery bill, to make certain that it's
going to be available to those who have been involved in this
effort. There is some question as to whether they had to have
made the decision at the time they entered the service as to
whether they wished to be eligible for that, and I think many
of them after this experience might want to have a second look
at that, and I would urge you to talk to the Department about
that.
COMBAT PAY
Secondly, I asked the staff to look at the problem of what
we called combat pay, we now call hostile fire and imminent
danger pay. I'm informed that was $110 a month before the
Persian Gulf War, during the Persian Gulf War it was raised
about 27 percent to $150 a month. And we have had an increase
in pay since for just general military pay since the Persian
Gulf War of about 30 percent. Clearly, we ought to have a
combat pay figure that is relevant to the current pay scales
and to current problems, and I would urge you to also take this
up with the Department.
I don't think we ought to jump the gun. I think that was
raised actually by executive action in the Persian Gulf War, it
was made permanent in the 1993 Act, but the current rate of
$150 was made permanent then. We seek your guidance. I should
think that the Executive Order would be sufficient right now,
but the permanent pay scale ought to be raised sometime in the
future.
Again, I thank you very much for your presence. Senator
Inouye and I have been here now for over 30 years on this
committee and watched the development of many of the systems
that we're seeing used so effectively in this war, and we
commend you as we did in the beginning for your efforts and
your role. And I promise not to show your picture around, the
one I talked to you about, General.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
General Jumper. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Stevens. He went to high school in Anchorage.
Thank you very much.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted to James G. Roche
Questions Submitted by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
BASIC MILITARY TRAINING AND TECHNICAL TRAINING SCHOOL
Question. Your submitted joint written statement addresses the
importance of recruiting and retention to maintain a quality force. You
said, ``Despite the challenge of mustering such a diverse and skilled
collection of Americans, we exceeded our fiscal year 2002 enlisted
recruiting goals and expect to surpass fiscal year 2003 objectives. We
will adapt our goals to meet new force objectives; however the capacity
limitations of Basic Military Training and Technical Training School
quotas will continue to challenge Total Force recruiting efforts.''
Since these missions are accomplished as a whole or in part at Lackland
and Sheppard Air Force Bases, can you elaborate on what you mean by
capacity limitations?
Answer. The Air Force is in the process of reshaping the force in
response to the current security environment. Basic Military Training
(BMT) and most Air Force Speciality Code (AFSC) technical schools met
past capacity requirements but are now feeling stressed because of
meeting new or expanded mission demands. BMT capacity is currently
tight because of increased Guard/Reserve numbers but capacity is
sufficient to meet demand. Some of our most in-demand career fields are
trained at technical training wings in Texas (e.g., CE Readiness at
Sheppard; Security Forces at Lackland; Intelligence/Linguist at
Goodfellow). As we transform, certain skills will be temporarily
stressed; however, adequate resources will be moved to accommodate
increases in throughput. As we work through this force reshaping,
training requirements will be adjusted. Active and Reserve Component
requirements will be re-evaluated and enough seats made available to
meet new steady state current and future requirements.
In the interim, timing of course dates may not be as convenient;
however, sufficient seats will be available to accomplish Total Force
mission requirements. Our focus is on making force-shaping adjustments
while maintaining the most effective and efficient Total Force training
pipeline possible. We expect to sustain adequate capacity given the
size of the force we have today.
RANGE AND READINESS PRESERVATION INITIATIVE
Question. Please provide some background information on the Range
and Readiness Preservation Initiative that you mentioned in your
written statement, intended to examine training range activity and
current legislation's impact on these activities.
Answer. The Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative (RRPI)
provides clarification to specific statutes; it does not provide
``sweeping'' exemptions from environmental laws. Also, the RRPI is not
a complete solution for every encroachment challenge. Changes in
regulations and administrative practices are also being explored.
Recently, courts have been interpreting environmental statutes and
existing laws in new ways that are impacting military operations on
ranges and in airspace. RRPI is one process used by the Air Force to
address encroachment. The current RRPI seeks focused legislative
changes to protect our readiness as we manage our resources. It does
this by; (1) codifying Department of the Interior policy to use DOD's
integrated natural resources management plans. These replace the need
for critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act on
DOD lands, (2) amending the Marine Mammal Protection Act to clarify
that military readiness activities are not considered ``harassment'' of
marine mammals unless they present a significant potential to injure
the mammals or to disrupt natural behavior patterns, (3) codifying the
Environmental Protection Agency rule that munitions used as intended on
operational ranges, e.g., dropped on a range, are not ``solid waste,''
(4) clarifying Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA) definition that firing a weapon is not a
``release,'' and by (5) extending the timeframe to conform to State
Implementation Plan requirements for air emissions.
In summary, these modest changes to the current laws will maintain
the current status of law and regulatory implementation policy while
preventing judicial creep from changing well-established rules.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Daniel K. Inouye
FORCE PROTECTION
Question. Secretary Roche, I understand that the Army will be
providing approximately 8,000 additional personnel to help the Air
Force meet its increased force protection requirements. This support
will last for two years, but is not included in the fiscal year 2003
Budget or the proposed fiscal year 2004 budget. How does the Air Force
plan on funding this increase and what plans are in the works for a
permanent solution to the shortfall?
Answer. The increases for Air Force force protection are a direct
result of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the Global War on
Terrorism. These increases were initially fulfilled by the mobilization
of over 90 percent of Air Reserve Component security forces. With the
limit of 24 months of mobilization and the inability to replace those
whose mobilizations will expire in 2003, the Air Force entered the
agreement with the Army to provide replacement personnel. The timing of
these requirements was such that the Air Force was unable to include it
in the fiscal year 2003 or fiscal year 2004 budgets. For fiscal year
2003, supplemental funding was provided. The fiscal year 2004
requirement remains unfunded at this time.
The Air Force plans to permanently resolve this shortfall with a
combination of increasing the number of security forces by force
structure adjustments, providing contract support where applicable, and
exploiting technologies that will reduce the personnel requirement.
F/A-22 RAPTOR
Question. Secretary Roche, as you know, the GAO has recently
released a report on the cost growth of the F/A-22 Raptor. It states
that ``DOD has not fully informed Congress (1) about what the total
cost of the production program could be if cost reduction plans do not
offset cost growth as planned or (2) about the aircraft quantity that
can be procured within the production cost limit.'' If the cost limit
is maintained and estimated production costs continue to rise, will the
Air Force have to procure fewer F/A-22s than currently planned?
Answer. The program has experienced production cost increases that
have reduced the number of jets that can be bought. Under the $36.8
billion Congressional production cap, current estimate is that between
220-230 aircraft can be procured. It is important to note that, though
aircraft affordability is not matching initial expectations, the
aircraft are getting cheaper. By promoting production stability and
momentum, there is no reason the program can't continue, and even
accelerate, towards the ultimate goal of delivering Air Dominance to
the Combatant Commanders.
With relief from the current Congressional production cap, the Air
Force estimates it can procure at least 276 aircraft under the $42.2
billion OSD-approved ``buy-to-budget'' strategy. This revised estimate
accounts for actual negotiated lots through Lot 3, conservative
assumptions for future efficiencies, and a 5 percent risk factor for
production ``unknowns.'' In addition, the Air Force and Office of the
Secretary of Defense (OSD) Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG)
quantity estimates now agree within 3 percent. For these reasons as
well as the positive affordability trend mentioned above, the Air Force
fully expects to buy more than 276 aircraft under the OSD-approved
production limit.
Question. Secretary Roche, at the annual Air Force Association's
Air Warfare Symposium, you described problems with F/A-22 and contended
that if those problems cannot be repaired you would recommend
termination of the program. Can you please describe the problems you
were referring to, and is it your plan to cancel the program is these
problems continue?
Answer. The problem I referred to at the Air Warfare Symposium is
avionics software stability. The issue is not how well the avionics
perform, but how long they run before a module in the avionics software
suite requires a reset. The current average run-time between resets, as
measured in the F/A-22 Avionics Integration Laboratory (AIL), decreased
when the software was loaded on the aircraft. OSD chartered an
independent team to study this problem and recommend ways for improving
run-time in the jet and ways for translating stability from the AIL
into the aircraft. The team's recommendations center on implementation
of new software development tools and data capturing methods for
finding and fixing the root causes of instability events. The team
stated that, after implementing new tools, there is no reason software
stability cannot be resolved.
TANKER FLEET
Question. Secretary Roche, General Myers stated in testimony before
the Congress that replacing the 40-year old KC-135 air refueling fleet
is an essential joint warfighting requirement. However, funds for
replacing the tankers were not included in the fiscal year 2004 budget
request. Is the tanker fleet ``relatively healthy'' or is the
replacement of refueling tanks ``essential'' to support mission
requirements?
Answer. Recapitalization of the tanker fleet is ``essential'' and
must begin now to continue to meet tanker requirements. The fiscal year
2004 President's Budget does not include funding for the tanker
replacement; however, there are two options under consideration by the
Department of Defense to field a replacement aircraft within the future
years defense plan. Pending departmental approval, the Air Force
intends to bring the recommended plan forward and identify funding and
delivery schedules at that time.
AIR FORCE INVESTMENT BUDGET
Question. Secretary Roche, a Congressional Budget Office study of
the long-term budget implications of current defense plans commissioned
by this committee suggested that the Air Force's investment budget
would need to grow to $59 billion by around 2012. The Air Force has
made some cut backs to force size since CBO made that estimate but it
seems likely that Air Force investment will require significant real
increases in spending. Do you think those increases are likely to
become available?
Answer. As the CBO study illustrates, the Air Force faces a complex
set of aging aircraft/system challenges. Since procurement of new
U.S.A.F. aircraft/systems dropped to minimal levels during the 1990s,
we now face a modernization bow wave that will take time and money to
turn around. Moreover, the cost to maintain older systems could grow
substantially and further erode the funding available for
modernization.
Though it is not appropriate for me to predict the level of
funding, it is my role to examine the national security strategy and
make recommendations to the Secretary and on how best to spend those
funds available. We do this each year as part of the Future Years
Defense Program build. The next comprehensive look at all this, to
include the new security strategy and the post-Iraq-War environment,
will be during the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review. The Air Force will
be a full and active partner in that process.
______
Questions Submitted to General John P. Jumper
Question Submitted by Senator Thad Cochran
AIR EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
Question. General Jumper, I understand the Air Expeditionary Force
construct you refer to on pages 11 and 12 of your written statement has
been useful in managing deployment rotations and incorporation of the
Guard and Reserves. Can you comment on the utility of this rotation
methodology in the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts?
Answer. The Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) has been very successful
in allowing the Air Force to respond to the requirements of both
Afghanistan and Iraq. Even under these stressing conditions the AEF
allowed us to deploy and re-deploy forces in an orderly and thoughtful
manner, thereby preserving the ability of the Air Force to meet
national security imperatives.
In January 2003, we made the decision to deviate from our normal 3-
month rotations so the Air Force could meet combatant commander
requirements. To do so we ``surged'' the AEF to build-up the level of
available forces by freezing AEF seven and eight in place and reaching
forward into future AEFs for additional forces. This allowed us to
simultaneously support homeland security requirements, the global war
on terrorism, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, and an increased force posture
in the Korean AOR proving the AEF's robustness and ability to respond
to crisis situations; however, this deviation from the Air Force's
normal AEF ``battle rhythm'' affected all Air Force personnel: Active
Duty, Guard, and Reserve.
As I noted in the U.S.A.F. Posture Statement, ``we do nothing
without Guard, Reserve and civilian personnel working alongside Active
Duty airmen.'' The AEF construct gives the Air Force the tools to
select the Active Duty, Guard or Reserve capability best able to meet
combatant commander's requirements and achieve national military
objectives. Since September 11, 2001, we have seen a continued increase
in baseline requirements for air and space expeditionary forces. This
trend began after Desert Storm and has continued throughout Kosovo and
Afghanistan. Until we are better able to judge the post Operation IRAQI
FREEDOM requirements, we cannot specifically define the level of
emerging sustained forces required. Regardless of the level of this
requirement, the AEF construct allows us to maximize our sustainable
deployed capability while giving us the flexibility to respond to
additional contingency requirements.
To understand this, one has to realize that the AEF construct is
not just a way for the Air Force to manage deployment rotations. The
AEF construct allows us to provide the greatest possible capability to
the combatant commanders while preserving the readiness of the force to
meet both rotational and crisis requirements. A crucial part of force
readiness is achieved by retaining our most critical resource, the
trained and motivated airman. The recent conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan have once again highlighted the tremendous job these young
professionals are doing for our country. To retain this crucial
resource it is essential we give them the tools to manage their
professional and personal lives by providing predictability and
stability. The AEF construct has been fundamental to our ability to
train and retain the best and brightest.
Recent Operations operations have afforded the Air Force an
opportunity to test the ability of the AEF to robust and respond to
crisis situations. The AEF met this challenge head-on, seamlessly
proving each combatant commander with the expeditionary air and space
capabilities to prevail.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Daniel K. Inouye
TANKER FLEET
Question. General Jumper, there is strong reason to believe that
the need for aerial refueling operations to conduct current and future
operations will continue to grow. Is the Air Force's current tanker
fleet able to handle an increased pace of operations?
Answer. We are confident that we can, and will, successfully
execute missions as we did with Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI
FREEDOM. However, if simultaneous operations in other regions are
added, tanker availability becomes more of a limiting factor, delaying
deployment of forces, and extending the duration of the air war.
The Air Force has an urgent and compelling need to begin replacing
the 43-year-old KC-135E as soon as possible. Competing priorities and
limited budget demand our leaders make decisions based on operational
risk and investment choices. Today, our most pressing tanker risk is a
delay to the replacement process. In the future, the Air Force will
continue to assess its tanker requirements and make appropriate
decisions regarding future force structure.
SPACE PROGRAMS
Question. General Jumper, the Space-Based InfraRed System-High has
in the past suffered from schedule delays and significant cost growth.
Can you please give the committee an update on progress in the Air
Force's Space-Based InfraRed System-High in the fiscal year 2004 budget
request and can you guarantee that this program is on schedule and
within its budget?
Answer. The fiscal year 2004 Research, Development, Test and
Evaluation (RDT&E) request for Space-Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS
High) will continue to fund the development contract for space and
ground segment development, continue System Program Office support, and
independent technical analysis by Aerospace corporation.
The fiscal year 2004 Other Procurement, Air Force (OPAF) will fund
procurement of equipment needed for Mission Control Station Backup
(MCSB) site activation, systems engineering, integration, and test
support; and hardware and software licenses and government furnished
equipment (GFE). The MCSB at Schriever AFB, CO will be the backup to
the SBIRS Mission control station (MCS) at Buckley AFB, CO, to meet
full operational needs. The MCSB is currently under construction using
the MILCON funded in fiscal year 2002 ($19 million) and is on schedule
for completion by September 2003.
The Interim Test Center (ITC) hardware installation in Boulder, CO,
is scheduled to be completed in July. The Integrated Training Suite
(ITS) is scheduled to be available in the fall of this year. The ITS is
critical to maintain an experienced and effective crew force--ensuring
personnel are trained when they arrive station and remain proficient
throughout their assignment.
SBIRS Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO)-1 payload environmental
testing, including thermal vacuum and acoustic tests, and several
payload-to-host and -ground interface tests were successfully completed
in 2002. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) testing uncovered excessive
radiated emissions levels in late December 2002. The HEO-1 test and
certification program is designed to find and fix problems. The
problems encountered are not unusual for first time payload integration
of a new sensor. Resolution has required extended rework and parts
fabrication, resulting in a schedule breach to the Acquisition Program
Baseline for delivery of the HEO-1 payload (May 2003 threshold). The
revised schedule details are still being worked; however, delivery
should satisfy the Host's need date. Impacts to the schedules for
subsequent deliveries, including HEO-2 payload and GEO spacecraft, are
under review. The delivery of HEO-1 continues to receive the highest
attention and priority among all stakeholders, contractor CEOs, and the
Under Secretary of the Air Force.
The recent delay in the delivery of the HEO-1 payload is being
handled within the program's funding based on the cost estimate
developed during the Nunn McCurdy certification review process. While
HEO-1 payload delay is unfortunate, the lessons learned from this delay
are being incorporated in the HEO-2 and GEO assembly, integration, and
test.
As a result of the schedule delays and significant cost growth that
led to the SBIRS Nunn-McCurdy unit cost breach notification to Congress
in December 2001, the Secretary of the Air Force directed an
Independent Review Team (IRT), in concert with Lockheed Martin, to
review the program and diagnose the root causes and contributing
factors of the significant cost growth. Three root causes were
identified.
1. The program was too immature to enter the detailed System Design
and Development phase.
2. The system requirements and their flow-down into engineering
solutions were not well understood.
3. A significant breakdown in execution management occurred, both
within the government and the contractor teams.
These findings were addressed in the restructured program presented
to the Under Secretary of Defense Acquisition, Technology, and
Logistics USD(AT&L) for his review.
The USD(AT&L) certified the SBIRS program to Congress as required
by the Nunn-McCurdy Act on May 2, 2002. The Acquisition Decision
Memorandum directed the Air Force to:
--Fully fund the SBIRS-High program to the OSD estimate
--Rebaseline program to OSD schedule
--Approve a revised Acquisition Program Baseline and a revised
Acquisition Strategy
--Submit a quarterly Selected Acquisition Report with an as-of-date
of June 30, 2002
--By January 30, 2003, Under Secretary of the Air Force provide AT&L
with assessment of the program status to meet the revised
Acquisition Program Baseline--completed January 27, 2003.
As part of the Nunn-McCurdy certification process, the Air Force
restructured SBIRS High to make it executable and fully funded the
program to the OSD estimate. The program established a realistic
baseline and implemented management changes based on the Independent
Review Team findings. The acquisition strategy was revised and the
Total System Performance Responsibility (TSPR) clause removed from the
contract. The comprehensive government Estimate at Complete (EAC)
identified many shortfalls with the original technical baseline that
are now corrected and funded. The schedule also provides for adequate
testing timelines (based on historical data). The Earned Value
Management System (EVMS) enhancements add industry best practices and
more SPO surveillance. Both government and Aerospace staff dedicated to
SBIRS have increased.
The program is implementing only ``Urgent & Compelling'' needs via
a disciplined change process controlled by the SBIRS Program Management
Board. This Program Management Board is in place to prevent
requirements creep. The revised contract defines quantifiable,
objective performance criteria to reward positive behavior and penalize
poor behavior--a Best practice recommendation of the Young Panel.
--Program Execution Performance (PEP) incentivizes disciplined
management/system engineering processes
--Mission Success Incentive incentivizes timely delivery of military
capability
--Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) contract clause incentivizes cost
performance
Although challenges remain, the Department is reasonably confident
that the SBIRS cost and schedule estimates are realistic and
executable, based on both Air Force and OSD independent cost estimates.
EXPEDITIONARY AEROSPACE FORCE (EAF)
Question. General Jumper, given the current world situation--with
its large scale deployments for the war on terrorism and war with Iraq,
and the possibility that these large scale deployments might continue
for a number of years--is the EAF concept still viable?
Answer. Yes, the Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF) concept is
still viable. The AEF concept is not tied to a particular base or
mission. It is the way the Air Force organizes and prepares for
military operations abroad.
The Air Force implemented the AEF structure in October 1999 as a
force management and presentation tool designed to ensure fully trained
and combat-capable airpower forces are always available to successfully
support standing contingency operations.
Sustaining on-going rotation requirements has become part of our
Air Force culture. The AEF concept articulates the capability of the
Air Force to support normal standing rotations and contingency
operations. The Air Force can indefinitely support the deployment of up
to two AEFs (aircraft and expeditionary combat support) worth of
assets.
When contingency requirements exceeded this maximum sustainable
capability, we ``surged'' the AEF to meet those evolving requirements.
During ``surge'' we are able to temporarily increase the amount of
deployed capability up to four AEFs. Requirements beyond two AEFs force
us to reach forward into successive AEFs for the required capabilities.
This surge comes at a price. To enable the build-up of capability unit
training cycles are curtailed and deployment durations are extended.
The higher the level and the duration of surge the greater the
reconstitution impact, in terms of training and recapitalization of
equipment. The Air Force is prepared to transition back to a more
normal rotation cycle when the combatant commanders no longer need the
additional support for OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.
It is important to stress that the ability of the Air Force to
support deployment requirements is in no way limited by the AEF
construct. The AEF structure allows the Air Force to meet the
challenges head on. It provides the Air Force a methodology for
managing force readiness to meet the growing demands for Air & Space
Expeditionary Forces, while simultaneously supporting the Defense
Strategy requirements such as: defend the homeland, deter forward,
swiftly defeat and/or a limited number of lesser contingencies.
Total force size, active to reserve component mix and overseas and
CONUS base structure determine our total deployment capability. To
maintain readiness and meet retention needs the Air Force, like the
other services, needs to limit Temporary Duty (TDY)/deployments of this
deployable capability to approximately one-third of the time. The AEF
rotational construct does this.
Air Force senior leadership is working to reshape the force in
areas of concern highlighted by the recent stress on the system
resulting from current operations. Where possible we are shifting
resources from less stressed areas into stressed career fields and
shifting military positions to make the maximum deployable capability
available. We are also completely revamping our methodology for
determining military and civilian manning requirements to focus the
requirement process on deployable capability rather that home station
requirements. These efforts have made over 270,000 active duty
positions available to meet deployed requirements.
The bottom line is that the AEF has been a tremendous success since
its inception. The modifications we are pursuing, such as embedding the
Air Expeditionary Wings (AEWs) have enhanced the capability of the AEF
over the course of its evolution. The likely level of requirements will
continue to stress the Air Force in the coming years as we reduce the
numbers of mobilized forces, the AEF gives us the best possible tool to
cope with these stresses.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Stevens. If there is nothing further, the
subcommittee will stand in recess.
[Whereupon, at 11:25 a.m., Wednesday, March 26, the
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of
the Chair.]