[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
       DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022

                                       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. Jon Tester (chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Tester, Feinstein, Baldwin, Shelby, 
Collins, Murkowski, Moran, Hoeven, and Boozman.

                      DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK KENDALL, SECRETARY


                opening statement of senator jon tester


    Senator Tester. I call this hearing to order.
    Good morning, Secretary Kendall. Thank you for being here. 
We met many times over the last year, but I believe this is 
your first appearance testifying before our subcommittee as Air 
Force Secretary. You have to correct me if I'm wrong on that, 
but welcome and thank you for your willingness to serve our 
country again.
    General Brown, General Raymond, welcome back. We look 
forward to hearing from all three of you about fiscal year 2023 
budget request for the Air Force and the Space Force.
    We consider the fiscal year 2023 budget request with great 
sense of urgency as we face China's rapidly increasing 
technological capabilities and warfighting capacity. China 
remains a pacing threat and continues to be the focus as we 
modernize our military forces.
    The Department of the Air Force in particular has made 
significant changes to its future force design and backed that 
up with sizable investments in modernization as made evident by 
a nearly 13 percent increase in its modernization budget.
    Your procurement budget, however, remains relatively flat 
which raises concerns about your ability to afford purchasing 
and fielding these modernization programs in relevant numbers.
    Your proposed shift in force structure also includes 
decisions to retire legacy aircraft and reduce procurement of 
relatively new platforms.
    As you know, divestments can be a sensitive topic around 
here. So we need to hear from you on the rationale for the 
proposals you're making, the path ahead to ensure that we have 
the necessary capabilities when needed, and what tools you have 
put in place to ensure that you can keep these promises and 
truly divest to invest. In other words, will new, more modern 
replacement capabilities show up on time?
    China's continued military modernization, Russia's invasion 
of Ukraine, space as a contested domain, as well as numerous 
threats I cannot talk about here, remind us every day that we 
have no time to waste. Nor can we waste taxpayer dollars as we 
rush to get modern capabilities in the hands of our 
warfighters.
    With that in mind, I look forward to hearing from each of 
you about how your budget request modernizes our force while 
supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families with the 
compensation, benefits, training, and equipment that they 
deserve.
    Again, I want to thank you all for appearing here today and 
we do look forward to your testimony.
    Senator Shelby, you have the floor.


                 statement of senator richard c. shelby


    Senator Shelby. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Secretary Kendall, General Brown, General Raymond, welcome 
back to the subcommittee.
    As the Chairman says, I also want to thank you for being 
here to present your budgets for 2023 and to provide the 
committee with an update on the challenges that you're facing 
and will face in the future.
    I was pleased to see real growth in the Space Force budget 
request which recognizes the contributions of the service and 
the growing importance of our operations in space.
    I remain concerned that the Air Force budget request is 
insufficient considering the needed modernization across the 
inventory with a rapidly evolving threat. China, as everybody 
knows, is continuing its efforts to advance its space-based 
capabilities and accelerating the development of air defense 
systems that put our forces at risk.
    Given Russia's use and China's testing of hypersonic 
missiles, I'm interested to hear, what we can talk about here, 
from how this budget request begins to address the difficult 
task of tracking that particular threat.
    We must provide sufficient funding to invest in our future 
technologies while maintaining a credible conventional and 
strategic deterrent for now.
    To that end, I'm interested, Mr. Secretary, to hear what 
capabilities you could accelerate if additional funds were made 
available.
    Lastly, the overall funding request does not keep pace with 
inflation. We all know this. I'm concerned that this sends the 
wrong message to our adversaries. A complex and evolving 
security environment requires a serious commitment to our 
national defense.
    Now more than ever we must invest in new technologies and 
capabilities if we're to meet and to defeat current and future 
threats.
    I look forward to hearing from you today and I understand 
that looking at the overall defense budget that we're going to 
have probably a long winter here trying to work that out, 
trying to get more money.
    Thank you.
    Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Shelby.
    Secretary Kendall, you have the floor.


                summary statement of hon. frank kendall


    Secretary Kendall. Thank you, Chairman Tester, Vice 
Chairman Shelby, and Members of the Committee.
    I'm honored to have General Brown and General Raymond join 
me in representing nearly 700,000 Airmen and Guardians.
    Speaking in 1940, General Douglas MacArthur said the 
following: ``The history of failure in war can almost be summed 
up in two words, too late.''
    What my colleagues and I are trying to do and what we need 
your help with is to ensure that America's Air and Space Forces 
are never too late in meeting our pacing challenge which is 
China.
    Many of you have heard the China threat briefing that we 
have been presenting. It lays out China's efforts to develop 
and field forces intended to defeat our ability to project 
power.
    China is also significantly enhancing and increasing its 
nuclear weapons inventory.
    Our budget submission provides a balance between the 
capabilities we need today and investments in the 
transformation required to address these emerging threats. With 
the requested budget, Air and Space Forces will be able to 
support our combatant commanders in the continuing campaigns 
that demonstrate our resolve.
    Simultaneously, our fiscal year 2023 budget represents a 
significant early step in the transformation of the Air and 
Space Forces to the capabilities needed to provide enduring 
advantage.
    We're comfortable with the balance struck in this year's 
budget submission. We also want to ensure the committee 
understands that hard choices do lie ahead at any budget level.
    In this request, we're asking for divestiture of equipment 
that is beyond the service life and not effective against the 
pacing challenge. These divestitures are necessary to provide 
the resources required to transform the Department of the Air 
Force to support integrated deterrence.
    Change is hard but losing is unacceptable, and we cannot 
afford to be too late. We ask for your support for the 
divestitures we are requesting this year and those in the 
future.
    We also request the committee's leadership and support 
regarding a continuing resolution which would seriously 
compound any issues we have with inflation.
    The Department of the Air Force is focused on seven 
operational imperatives that will define the necessary 
transformation.
    First, if the Space Force is to fulfill its mission of 
enabling and protecting the Joint Force, we must pivot to 
transformational space architectures and systems.
    Second, we must integrate and efficiently employ Air and 
Space Forces as part of a highly lethal Joint Force through the 
Advanced Battle Management Systems.
    Third, to defeat aggression, we must have the ability to 
hold large numbers of air and surface targets at risk in a 
time-compressed scenario.
    Fourth, our control here is being challenged and we must 
proceed to an affordable next generation air dominance family 
of systems to include a sixth generation crew platform and an 
un-crewed combat aircraft.
    Fifth, we must have resilient forward-based tactical air 
forces.
    Sixth, we must ensure the long-term viability and cost-
effectiveness of our global strike capability, including 
transition of the B-21 from development into production.
    Finally, the Department of the Air Force must be fully 
ready to transition to a war-time posture against a peer 
competitor.
    Members of the Committee, I look forward to your support as 
we work to ensure that America's Air and Space Forces are never 
too late. One team, one fight. We welcome your questions. Thank 
you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Tester. General Brown, you may proceed.
STATEMENT OF GENERAL CHARLES Q. BROWN, JR., CHIEF OF 
            STAFF, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
    General Brown. Good morning, Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman 
Shelby, and Distinguished Members of this Committee. I 
appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today.
    The world looks to the United States Air Force as a leading 
example and a world-class Air Force requires world-class Airmen 
that are organized, trained and equipped to remain the world's 
most respected Air Force. If we do not continue to transform 
this may no longer be the case.
    We must continue to communicate and collaborate with this 
committee and key stakeholders so we can accelerate change. 
Last year's budget communicated the Air Force the Nation needs 
for 2030 and beyond. Our message has not changed in fiscal year 
2023.
    We must modernize to counter strategic competitors and must 
balance between the demands of today and requirements for 
tomorrow. In order to do so puts our ability to execute the 
National Defense Strategy at risk. It puts soldiers, Sailors, 
Marines, Guardians, and Airmen along with our allies and 
partners at risk. It puts our ability to place air power any 
time anywhere at risk.
    The only way our Air Force and Nation will be successful is 
if we collaborate. We are beginning to see the success of our 
collaboration. However, continuing resolutions can easily erode 
our success.
    This year's budget brought investment in systems and 
concepts that allow our Air Force to penetrate and dominate in 
any scenario. We've also been successful in beginning to divest 
systems that are increasingly irrelevant against the advancing 
threat. We didn't do this alone. Support of Congress is much 
appreciated.
    This year's National Defense Strategy provides us the 
needed direction. The operational imperatives and the National 
Defense Strategy are in alignment with what our Nation demands 
of our Air Force.
    The Air Force we are building is critical to integrated 
deterrence, campaigning, and building enduring advantages. As a 
backstop to integrated deterrence, this year's budget ensures 
our nuclear portfolios are fully funded.
    Current events are emblematic of how our Air Force is 
campaigning. We deployed Air Force assets within days, shared 
vital information, and increased interoperability with our 
allies and partners.
    Finally, the Air Force is investing in enduring advantages 
that allow us to defend the homeland, project air power 
globally and operate as a joint allied and partner force.
    More than anyone, I value investing in programs that allow 
all of our Airmen and their families to reach their full 
potential.
    As the United States Air Force celebrates its 75th 
Anniversary this year, we have committed to remaining the 
world-class Air Force America can be proud of.
    I'm certain this year's budget is another step towards the 
transformation of our Air Force. We must continue to 
communicate and collaborate so we can accelerate change.
    Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today and 
I look forward to your questions.
    Senator Tester. General Raymond.
STATEMENT OF GENERAL JOHN W. RAYMOND, CHIEF OF SPACE 
            OPERATIONS, UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE
    General Raymond. Good morning, Chairman Tester, Vice 
Chairman Shelby, and distinguished Members of the Committee. 
It's an honor to appear before you today with Secretary Kendall 
and General Brown.
    On behalf of the almost 14,000 Guardians stationed around 
the world, let me begin by thanking you for your continued 
leadership.
    As we testify before you today, we find ourselves at a 
strategic inflection point where we are faced with an acute 
threat from Russia and a pacing challenge from China. The 
Russian invasion of Ukraine has showcased the importance of 
space to all instruments of power.
    It is clear that the character of war has changed and space 
is foundational to that change. However, Russia's recent direct 
ascent anti-satellite missile test last November is just the 
latest evidence of efforts to deny our Nation the advantages 
that space provides.
    Just as concerning, our pacing challenge China is 
integrating space into their military operations to detect, 
track, target, and strike the Joint Force. We cannot allow 
potential adversaries to gain an unchallenged ability to 
conduct space-enabled attacks. Our Joint Forces will remain at 
risk until we can complete the transformation to resilient 
architectures. This is critical to supporting all aspects of 
the National Defense Strategy.
    To remain the world's leader in space, the President's 
Budget Request prioritizes space and invests $24.5 billion to 
ensure our assured access and freedom to operate in the domain.
    The largest share is almost $16 billion to modernize our 
forces, a portion of which will begin a transformational pivot 
to a more resilient and mission-capable missile warning and 
missile tracking force design.
    Notably, this funding also includes funding for the Space 
Development Agency which is included in the Space Force budget 
for the first time this year.
    In contrast to legacy approaches, this architecture will be 
built to survive and degrade gracefully under attack, help 
manage escalation, and be rapidly reconstituted.
    This transformation will also allow us to capitalize more 
fully on two of our national advantages: our commercial 
industry and our allies and partners.
    Finally and most importantly, we invest in our Guardians 
and their families. Over the past 2 years, we have overhauled 
how we recruit, assess, train, develop, promote, employ, and 
take care of our Guardians.
    We are continuing our innovative approaches to human 
capital by seeking the integration of Active Duty and Reserve 
forces into a single hybrid component structure and this is our 
Number 1 legislative proposal. We look forward to working with 
Congress to implement this bold approach.
    The Space Force has also been charged to ensure our Nation 
has enduring advantages and security in the new and rapidly-
changing warfighting domain.
    With your continued support and on-time appropriations 
bill, Guardians will deliver.
    Again, we're appreciative of all your support. It's an 
honor to appear before you and I look forward to your 
questions.
    [The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Frank Kendall, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. 
                      and General John W. Raymond

                DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE INTRODUCTION

    The Department of the Air Force, in line with the Department of 
Defense, recognizes the rapidly evolving, global environment and the 
complex challenges it presents. The Department of the Air Force 
provides unique competencies and capabilities to achieve our national 
security priorities to defend the homeland, deter any strategic 
attacks, deter aggression and be prepared to prevail in conflict, and 
build a resilient joint force. We will advance these priorities through 
integrated deterrence, campaigning, and building enduring advantages. 
Among those priorities, the greatest challenge to the Department of the 
Air Force's ability to perform its missions is the People's Republic of 
China's (PRC) long-standing and extensive military modernization 
program. While the PRC remains the Department's pacing challenge, 
recent events in Eastern Europe highlight that Russia also remains an 
acute threat. Additionally, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 
Iran, and violent extremist organizations are persistent threats that 
will continue to exploit opportunities to further their interests. 
Beyond state and non-state actors, transboundary challenges, such as 
climate change, also demand attention as they transform the strategic 
context in which we operate.
    The Department of the Air Force organizes, trains, and equips as 
part of a joint and combined team. While focused on the PRC--our pacing 
challenge--the Department provides forces that enable our country to 
meet the challenges associated with the full range of national security 
threats. ``One Team, One Fight'' is more than our mantra; it is a 
guiding principle. The Department of the Air Force encompasses two 
Services, united with shared infrastructure, complementary skills, 
resources, competencies, and goals. Our capabilities underwrite the 
design of the joint force, support every combatant command, enable 
every instrument of national power, strengthen our allies and partners, 
and enhance the security and prosperity of every American.
    Meeting our obligations to the Nation and the joint force demands 
we accelerate the transformation from the force we have today to the 
one needed to meet our pacing challenge. The risks we must address are 
increasing over time, in both strategic and conventional defense. This 
evolving strategic landscape requires us to balance risk by investing 
in the more capable and lethal future force the Nation needs to more 
effectively counter current and emerging threats. This transition is 
just beginning; achieving it will require trade-offs between 
maintaining capabilities to address combatant commands' current needs 
while accelerating vital modernization efforts for success in high-end 
conflicts. These investments have been prioritized to focus on key 
contributors to military advantage. fiscal year 2023 marks the next 
step of a much larger journey. Continuing progress is essential but 
will become increasingly challenging over time. Change is hard. It is 
hard politically, culturally, technologically, and institutionally. 
Still, we must make the needed transition; we must make tough choices; 
we must accept prudent risk; and we must get it right, or we will lose.
    One challenging step we are taking in the fiscal year 2023 budget 
is to make relatively modest short-term changes to the mix of 
capabilities and capacity of our air and space assets; this will drive 
limited divestments in fiscal year 2023. The aircraft we seek to retire 
are respected platforms that have served us well and whose capabilities 
were invaluable on yesterday's battlefields. However, they are not 
well-suited for today's contested environments or tomorrow's high-end 
conflicts. They do not give our competitors cause for concern, are 
aging and increasingly costly to maintain, and do not provide our joint 
force the capabilities to deter--and if called upon--to fight and win 
against pressing threats. Any budget is finite, and forced resourcing 
of outdated systems jeopardizes our ability to guarantee air and space 
superiority in the future. We must balance the risk associated with 
retiring older platforms in order to onboard new, necessary 
technologies and capabilities. This will allow us to ensure the United 
States maintains sufficient military advantage to secure our vital 
national interests and support our allies and partners. In addition to 
eliminating the expense of maintaining outdated platforms, these 
divestments allow our most valuable resource--our people--to transition 
to capabilities that provide an enduring advantage. Providing our 
Airmen and Guardians with the tools they need to prevail is our most 
sacred obligation.
    Last year, Congressional support enabled us to initiate this 
transition to better confront our pacing challenge. Congressional 
approval to begin retiring outdated fighter, tanker, cargo, and command 
and control aircraft, and to begin updating our space architecture, 
allows us to start investing in the necessary capabilities we require 
to win future conflicts. While the Department of the Air Force remains 
grateful for past and future Congressional support, we continue to face 
burdensome restrictions on structural changes year after year, impeding 
the development of a more modern, operationally relevant force that the 
Nation requires. We need continued Congressional collaboration and 
support to ensure deterrence and, if needed, victory.
    This year, the Department of the Air Force, powered by 
approximately 700,000 Airmen and Guardians, celebrates 75 years of air 
and space dominance. This milestone was achieved through the dedication 
and sacrifice of generations of Total Force members who served our 
Department throughout its rich history. Their legacy is foundational to 
this incredible Department and continues to be honored by those who 
serve today. Our team of military and civilian Active, Guard, and 
Reservist Airmen and Guardians all contribute to our Nation's air and 
space security. These brave, inspiring Americans provide great hope for 
the future of our Department and our Nation by ensuring the high ground 
always belongs to the United States.
    Airmen and Guardians are our competitive advantage, and the 
Department of the Air Force is creating a future force with the human-
capital capabilities and competencies required to win. We must continue 
to maximize opportunities for all members to serve to their fullest 
potential. We remain committed to building a culture of respect, where 
sexual assault and harassment are not tolerated in any form. We will do 
this by supporting victims and prosecuting offenders through the 
Uniform Code of Military Justice and reinforcing the Department of 
Defense's implementation roadmap to employ the recommendations of the 
Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment. 
Additionally, the Department will continue to confront racial, ethnic, 
and gender disparity, interpersonal violence, and suicide, all of which 
erode morale, hinder our Airmen and Guardians' ability to achieve their 
full potential, and degrade our ability to execute our missions. 
Furthermore, we will continue to highlight successful diversity and 
inclusion initiatives, ensuring all of our personnel understand and 
contribute fully to our collective strength. Dedicated, talented, and 
selfless Airmen and Guardians enable our success, and they must all be 
valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential so they 
can make the maximum possible contribution to the Department's 
readiness.
    While fiscal year 2023 fully budgets for the strategic deterrent 
recapitalization as well as homeland defense-oriented systems, the 
Department of the Air Force has evaluated the threat landscape and 
determined that additional modernization efforts are required to 
address seven conventional warfare operational imperatives. The former 
AF/A9 element of the Air Staff has been transferred to the Office of 
the Secretary of the Air Force and redesignated as the Department of 
the Air Force Studies and Analysis Office (DAFSA). DAFSA will provide 
analytical support to each of seven imperatives. These seven 
imperatives focus our efforts and lay the framework for this and 
subsequent budgetary requests. They also reflect the conventional 
warfare priorities of the Department of Defense and the Department of 
the Air Force. Our current capabilities in each of these areas will not 
be adequate to address emerging threats, and hard choices in future 
budgets will almost certainly be necessary.
    First, the Department of the Air Force must define and resource a 
resilient, effective space order of battle that ensures our terrestrial 
forces have the support from space on which they depend. At the same 
time, we must deny any potential adversary the operational services 
they expect to receive from space, especially the ability to target key 
elements of the joint force. Space is a warfighting domain and 
contested environment today, and it will only become more so in the 
future. In the fiscal year 2023 budget, we begin the transition to more 
resilient communications and missile warning architectures. The 
Department of the Air Force is also currently working with the 
Intelligence Community and others to define joint solutions to our 
intelligence, operational surveillance, and reconnaissance needs.
    Second, we must achieve an operationally-optimized Advanced Battle 
Management System (ABMS) as the Department's primary contribution to 
Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). The fiscal year 2023 
budget continues funding for early increments of ABMS. Ongoing work 
will define additional future investments that are needed to most cost-
effectively modernize the Air and Space Forces Command, Control, and 
Communications Battle Management networks and to integrate those 
networks with the joint and combined force.
    Third, achieving Moving Target Indication (MTI) and tracking of 
surface and air threats at scale in a challenging operational 
environment is a necessary step in any JADC2 or ABMS system. Existing 
systems, principally Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and 
Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), are aging and 
increasingly vulnerable to advanced threats, as are uncrewed systems 
designed for permissive environments. The fiscal year 2023 budget 
provides funding to acquire an interim AWACS replacement while ongoing 
analysis will define the optimal mix of air-based and space-based 
ground and aerial MTI systems and architectures. These systems must be 
able to find and track high- priority mobile targets in the air, on the 
sea surface, and on the ground in contested environments. The ability 
to hold larger numbers of targets at risk in a time-compressed scenario 
is essential to conventional deterrence and defeating aggression.
    Fourth, both threat developments and affordability concerns dictate 
that the Air Force proceed to develop and field a Next Generation Air 
Dominance (NGAD) family-of-systems. This family-of-systems will include 
a sixth-generation crewed platform, as well as uncrewed combat aircraft 
and a cost-effective mix of sensors, weapons, and communications 
systems. Several years of technology maturation have led the Department 
of the Air Force to conclude that crewed-uncrewed teaming for air 
dominance and other tactical missions is within reach. The NGAD core 
crewed platform is funded for development in the fiscal year 2023 
budget, and the work to define other elements of this family-of-systems 
has been initiated.
    Fifth, we must define and resource cost-effective, resilient 
forward basing for our tactical aircraft. The last decades of conflict 
saw our airfields operating with comparably little interruption or 
threat, but the PRC has invested extensively in precise long-range 
ballistic and cruise missiles that threaten our forward air bases. 
Their investments into hypersonic weapons, which are much harder to 
defend against, further threaten our forward bases. This budget 
continues funding for Agile Combat Employment (ACE) in both the Indo-
Pacific and European regions while work is ongoing to define the most 
cost-effective mix of hardening, active defense, deception, and 
dispersion activities. This includes necessary mobile logistics or 
prepositioned assets required to sustain operations. All our 
investments in tactical airpower depend on our success at achieving 
resilient forward basing.
    Sixth, our global conventional strike capabilities will be built 
around the B-21 Raider and associated family- of-systems. The fiscal 
year 2023 budget fully funds the B-21 for continued development and the 
initiation of production. The Department of the Air Force is working to 
determine an affordable family-of-systems that will be associated with 
the B-21 and include uncrewed combat aircraft with comparable range. 
Like NGAD, the B-21 is envisioned to operate as part of a more 
extensive set of systems with significantly more operational 
performance than the B-21 alone.
    Seventh, to provide effective integrated deterrence, the Department 
of the Air Force must be fully ready to expeditiously transition to a 
wartime posture. We must be ready to mobilize against a peer competitor 
who has spent decades researching and developing the means to attack 
the systems and infrastructure we depend on to go to war through cyber 
and non-cyber means. This budget includes resources to modernize and 
harden our existing information systems. Ongoing work will define 
additional steps that should be taken to deter and defeat cyber and 
other attacks on our information systems and logistical infrastructure.
    In summary, the Air Force and Space Force fiscal year 2023 budgets 
balance the risks of maintaining current readiness to support combatant 
commands today with the need to develop and deliver the force needed 
for tomorrow. In the following sections, we discuss how the Space Force 
and Air Force will balance these risks from the perspectives associated 
with the goals of integrated deterrence, campaigning, and building 
enduring advantages. This budget and our ongoing efforts lay the 
groundwork for the tough choices we expect to face next fiscal year and 
beyond. The Department of the Air Force has undergone historic 
transitions through our rich, 75-year history, and we are in the 
infancy of another historic change now. This change will ensure we 
maintain our ability to deter and, when necessary, defeat those who 
seek to prevent our Nation and our allies and partners from being 
secure, prosperous, and free. Change is hard--losing is unacceptable. 
``One Team, One Fight.''

                       UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE

    The United States Space Force and its capabilities underwrite all 
instruments of national power and enable the joint force to operate 
effectively. The joint force cannot succeed without space capabilities. 
Spacepower is a source of our Nation's strength both at home and abroad 
and provides socioeconomic benefit to all Americans, an expanding 
network of allies and partners, and the global community. Access to and 
use of space are vital national interests, and space capabilities 
provide critical data, products, and services that drive innovation in 
the United States and around the world. Our pacing challenge, the PRC, 
understands the importance of space and is acquiring the space systems 
and counter-space systems to hold our interests at risk and defeat us 
in conflict.
    Uninterrupted use of space and protection from adversary counter-
space operations are foundational to the design and function of the 
joint force. Historically, precise missile warning and the ability to 
attribute the source of the threat helped deter missile strikes on the 
homeland; high-resolution satellite imagery allowed the joint force to 
revolutionize the speed and sophistication of target development; 
precision navigation, enabled by the Global Positioning System (GPS), 
revolutionized weapons accuracy and the efficiency of munitions; and 
satellite communications (SATCOM) enabled over-the-horizon power 
projection, which is essential to deterring aggression. It is not 
hyperbole to say the joint force cannot prevail without space. The 
United States also cannot allow potential adversaries to gain an 
unchallenged ability to conduct space-enabled attacks on our joint 
forces and terrestrial interests.
    The United States is the world's premier space power, and our 
military capabilities enable the joint force to succeed, but this 
position is being challenged as never before. The PRC and Russia 
understand the unique advantages that spacepower provides and have 
demonstrated the willingness and ability to attack space capabilities 
and endanger peaceful use of the domain. The November 2021 Russian 
anti-satellite missile test, whose debris continues to threaten all 
nations' space assets, is just the latest of many irresponsible 
counter-space weapon demonstrations by both the PRC and Russia. Both 
competitors are researching, developing, and fielding the space and 
counter-space systems needed to defeat the joint force. In addition to 
developing the ability to attack in space, the PRC has integrated space 
capabilities into its military operations in order to target maritime, 
air, and land forces and project power through space. The PRC's 2021 
test of an orbital hypersonic glide vehicle constitutes a new challenge 
to strategic deterrence and stability. Further, in its invasion of 
Ukraine, Russia maintains the ability to deploy and employ a wide range 
of ground-based electronic warfare capabilities to counter GPS, 
tactical communications, SATCOM, and radars.
    The Space Force must take urgent action to meet growing threats to 
vital national interests and to strengthen deterrence. This budget 
represents the beginning of an unprecedented transformation from a few 
exquisite space systems to more capable, resilient, and defendable 
architectures comprised of a diverse and distributed mix of 
capabilities.
              space force's role in integrated deterrence
    Integrated deterrence starts with space. The Space Force provides 
the joint force and our allies and partners critical services that are 
essential to integrated deterrence and effective defense. Unique 
services such as missile warning, positioning, navigation and timing, 
communications, and space-enabled intelligence, make the United States 
a valued security partner. Deterrence has long depended on assured 
missile warning and the ability to communicate with strategic forces in 
all circumstances. The Space Force delivers unmatched capability in 
these missions today and is developing the next generation of 
capabilities to meet mission requirements in the future.
    Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared provides critical 
tactical and strategic ballistic missile warning and acts as a bridge 
from legacy detection and warning to the more robust missile tracking 
needed to counter modern, maneuverable threats. The transition towards 
resilient, proliferated architectures will extend to other mission 
areas, including battlespace awareness and space-based intelligence. In 
addition to our ability to provide warning and tracking of modern 
threats, the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communication system will 
ensure the ability to command and control strategic forces despite 
attack.
    Space provides an asymmetric advantage in military operations. The 
joint and combined force cannot succeed in conflict against a space-
capable adversary without the ability to gain and maintain space 
superiority. Potential adversaries are actively developing and fielding 
systems intended to deny the use of space in conflict. By denying the 
potential for a sudden decisive attack in space, the Space Force 
bolsters integrated deterrence across all domains. Beginning in fiscal 
year 2023, the Space Force's transformation to resilient architectures 
is purpose-built to deny an adversary's ability to acquire an advantage 
through an attack on a few fragile, high-value space assets. This new 
design approach enhances capability and resiliency through distributed 
systems proliferated across multiple orbits. Taken together, these 
features measurably increase deterrence of the full spectrum of 
advanced threats.
    The first mission area to undergo this transformation is the 
Missile Warning/Missile Tracking architecture. The fiscal year 2023 
investment in this transformation implements a force design developed 
by the Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC). Supported by a multi-
agency collaboration, the Space Force is building upon the Overhead 
Persistent Infrared Enterprise Architecture Strategy to deliver 
architecture capabilities that can be protected, survive attack, 
degrade gracefully under attack, and be rapidly reconstituted. In 
conjunction with our network of allies and partners, the transformation 
to resilient architectures communicates to the world that our joint 
combat credible forces, in space and terrestrially, will continue to 
sustain operational advantages through all domains and phases of 
conflict.
    Space Domain Awareness (SDA) is essential to attributing bad 
behavior in space as well as tracking objects in orbit, launch attempts 
worldwide, and active payload deliveries, and, if necessary, 
controlling space assets during a conflict. fiscal year 2023 
investments, such as the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability, will 
deliver continuous, all-weather radar capabilities for deep-space 
object tracking. Additionally, Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability 
will enhance the Space Force's ability to track foreign launches, from 
liftoff to final destination, and improve the ability to observe the 
behavior of existing and emerging threats. In addition to supporting 
the transfer of the space traffic management mission to the Department 
of Commerce, the Space Force increasingly uses SDA data, provided by 
allies and commercial companies, to improve awareness of the domain and 
distribute vital data to the joint force, interagency, allies and 
partners. By providing continuous assessments of potential adversary 
behaviors in space, the Space Force contributes to the range of 
measures available under the integrated deterrence concept.
    Space can become a conflict zone at any stage of the possible 
transition from peace to unconstrained conventional or even nuclear 
warfare. Integrated deterrence spans this spectrum. The Space Force is 
in the process of transforming to a suite of capabilities that can 
deter across that spectrum, help to assure the security and support of 
our allies and partners, and, if necessary, transition to wartime 
operations. The fiscal year 2023 budget begins that transformation.
                   space force's role in campaigning
    The Space Force strengthens and amplifies campaigning initiatives 
for the joint force, combatant commands, and allies and partners by 
delivering global services and effects that enable and enhance all 
joint and combined functions. The unique characteristics of the space 
domain provide a range of options for military operations, response to 
gray zone challenges, and peacetime influence operations. Furthermore, 
space leverages its inherently global coverage to support all combatant 
commands as well as our allies and partners. The Space Force also 
supports the campaign to ensure the peaceful use of space, supports 
appropriate international behaviors in space, and works closely with 
the National Space Council to further interests in security as well as 
peaceful commercial and scientific uses of space.
    Last year, the Secretary of Defense issued Tenets of Responsible 
Behavior in Space to establish foundational criteria under which the 
application of military spacepower complements, rather than competes 
with, the growing civil and commercial use of space. New capabilities, 
including those intended to protect national interests in space, must 
strengthen American leadership as well as foster a secure, stable, and 
sustainable space domain open to all responsible actors.
    Our ability to use space effectively at all times starts with 
assured access. The Space Force's National Security Space Launch (NSSL) 
program has delivered an unprecedented record of 90 successful launches 
stretching back to 2002. The NSSL program has achieved commercial-like 
pricing for routine missions and reduced overall launch costs by half. 
This budget ensures our NSSL launch capacity requirement to place new 
capabilities in orbit. While there are fewer NSSL missions than last 
year, our investment is right-sized to manifest requirements, and it 
does not reflect a drop in capacity or space operations. Additionally, 
the Space Force is utilizing the four remaining Atlas V launch 
vehicles, effectively eliminating dependency on the Russian RD-180 
engine moving forward. The Space Force's launch infrastructure is 
another critical element of our transformation. The Range of the Future 
vision enables us to keep pace with the accelerating United States 
space launch market and maintain safe and assured launch for 
commercial, civil, and Department of Defense users.
    As a member of the Intelligence Community, the Space Force 
collects, analyzes, and delivers intelligence on threat systems, 
foreign intentions, and activities in the space domain in support of 
national leaders, the acquisition community, and joint warfighters, 
before and during all phases of conflict. The National Space 
Intelligence Center (NSIC) will focus this effort, provide the 
scientific and technical intelligence necessary to support threat-based 
requirements development, future space acquisition decisions, 
campaigning in support of deterrence, and defense of space systems from 
anti-satellite weapons, such as those being developed and demonstrated 
by the PRC and Russia. The Space Force will leverage NSIC to coordinate 
with the rest of the Intelligence Community, and our investments in 
full functionality of the NSIC will better inform threat-based 
requirements development and future acquisition decisions.
    To ensure data transport in support of ABMS and JADC2, the Space 
Force, through the Space Development Agency, will deliver an initial 
space data transport layer that will enhance secure and resilient data 
access for joint force and allied users across the globe at all times. 
This data transport layer, based on a force design led by the SWAC, 
will be an integral element of JADC2, delivering assured, low-latency 
connectivity to the full range of warfighting platforms. This 
initiative supports another operational imperative driving ABMS towards 
an operationally optimized solution. At full strength, the space 
transport layer will consist of a constellation of satellites to 
provide seamless, assured global connectivity to warfighters.
    GPS is the gold standard for positioning, navigation, and timing, 
used daily by billions of people around the globe. Navigation and 
timing systems depend on accurate, reliable, and highly-precise 
geolocation services in support of commercial and military activity. 
These capabilities are mission-essential for virtually every modern 
weapon system and critical for public safety and government services. 
This year's budget continues procurement of advanced GPS III follow-on 
satellites and emphasizes specific modernization efforts to improve the 
resiliency of GPS services. This includes anti-jamming, upgrades to 
military user equipment, and advanced cyber protection for the ground 
operating systems.
    SATCOM enables global voice and data connectivity for Presidential 
support, Command and Control (C2), Intelligence, Surveillance, and 
Reconnaissance (ISR), and Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications 
(NC3). The Space Force is ensuring joint force SATCOM availability by 
operating a suite of mobile, wideband, and secure systems, and by 
investing in programs such as Protected Tactical SATCOM and the 
Protected Tactical Enterprise Service to deliver reliable joint force 
communications. Space Force also continues to enhance SATCOM 
effectiveness, efficiency, and resilience through the use of 
international partnerships, commercial SATCOM, various acquisition 
pathways, and the transfer of Army and Navy capabilities and programs.
    The Space Force is also responsible for the continuous operation of 
over 50 legacy platforms. Even as Space Force embarks on a 
transformation, many legacy platforms must operate for years into the 
future. To ensure capabilities that were designed and delivered before 
space was recognized as a warfighting domain remain credible and 
viable, the Space Force is investing in additional cyber protection, 
evaluating select legacy systems for resiliency upgrades, and 
integrating space capabilities from a number of allies and partners. 
These investments ensure today's space capabilities are ready to 
support day-to-day campaigning in the near-term as the Space Force's 
modernization efforts pave the way to deliver new architectures that 
are resilient by design.
    The services that Space Force provides enable the joint force and 
combined force to contribute to campaigning efforts that reinforce 
deterrence. The Space Force also directly supports campaigning by 
contributing some of those same services to allies and partners and by 
increasing the attractiveness of cooperating with, and operating in 
conjunction with, the United States. Equally important, the Space Force 
can support campaigning by providing increased levels of security to 
allies and partners through the potential to negate and, therefore, 
deter threatening space systems.
           space force's role in building enduring advantages
    Building the future Space Force also hinges on investment in 
diverse and highly talented Guardians--the core of the Space Force's 
enduring advantages. With this budget, the Space Force assumes 
responsibility for its own Military Personnel account from the United 
States Air Force, enabling it to more fully and effectively develop and 
manage the incredible talent resident in the Space Force. The Guardian 
Ideal is the Space Force's foundational document outlining the 
Service's boundary-pushing, innovative approaches to talent management. 
This inclusive, modern, and holistic talent management approach 
incorporates work-life balance, resiliency, training, education, and 
individualized development. The Space Force also needs a force 
structure and resourcing approach capable of adapting to changing 
circumstances, quickly and effectively scaling on-demand to meet 
mission requirements. With Congressional support, creating a Space 
Component with full- to part-time fluidity for all uniformed members 
will give the Space Force the unique opportunity to achieve those 
objectives.
    Space Force is advancing space education by embedding space 
curriculum into the Department of the Air Force's Basic Military 
Training, Non-Commissioned Officer academies, the United States Air 
Force Academy, Officer Training School, and Reserve Officer Training 
Corps. This ensures both Guardians and Airmen have a foundational 
understanding of the space domain and its importance. Additionally, 
dedicated, space-centered education within officer and civilian 
intermediate- and senior-level professional military education programs 
drives long-term strategic thought and builds the technical leaders of 
tomorrow.
    To address the operational imperative on transitioning to a wartime 
posture against a peer competitor, the Space Force must ensure 
readiness for that contingency. Currently, the Space Force is 
inadequately equipped to train for a high-end fight. Readiness requires 
education and training to equip Guardians with the knowledge, skills, 
and tools necessary to operate and prevail against a determined 
adversary with a diverse array of threat systems. To meet this need, 
this budget begins the transformation of the legacy Operational Test 
and Training Infrastructure and expands the National Space Test and 
Training Complex as the premier venue to develop warfighting space 
capabilities. This will include developing live, virtual, and 
constructive environments where Guardians can train against a 
professional, doctrinally sound, and threat-representative aggressor 
force. This training will be applied, tested, and validated by Space 
Flag, Red Flag, and various joint, allied, and partner exercises.
    To further improve the joint force's enduring advantage, the Space 
Force, together with the Intelligence Community, is analyzing the 
Department of Defense's ISR requirements and examining national, 
commercial, allied, and partner ISR integration opportunities. By 
exploiting new technologies, commercial services, and distributed 
architectures, the space domain offers opportunities to provide greater 
capability to meet warfighter requirements while reducing operational 
risk. Under the operational imperatives, Space Force, in partnership 
with the National Reconnaissance Office, is also exploring options and 
opportunities to apply these solutions to the problem of moving target 
indication and tracking from space at scale.
    Space Force needs a digital workforce with the skills to rapidly 
turn data into valuable insights. Digital fluency is foundational to 
being a Guardian, and, to improve that literacy, the Space Force 
provides Digital University access to every Guardian. The Space Force 
continues to build a cadre of organic software coders (known as ``Supra 
Coders'') with a plan to train 90 in 2023 and achieve a target 
inventory of over 200. These initial efforts will prepare Guardians to 
embrace the digital processes and technology required to innovate and 
increase effectiveness and efficiency against space operations threats.
    A key aspect of digital transformation is digital engineering. The 
Space Force has made initial investments into an ecosystem where 
digital engineering will be conducted to manage the complexities of 
force design, requirements validation, weapon system acquisition, test 
and evaluation, training, and operations. These investments will 
accelerate and modernize the entire capability development lifecycle--
from conception to deployment to operations. Further, data management 
is foundational to advancing capabilities. The goal of becoming the 
world's first fully digital Service is to deliver a force capable of 
winning a data-centric conflict and protecting the vital interests of 
the Nation, allies, and partners.
    The Space Force is surging to address the first operational 
imperative of defining a resilient space order of battle that 
encompasses offensive and defensive capabilities by implementing a 
cost-conscious, threat-informed, data-driven force design process to 
define space architectures that will replace legacy, single-platform 
solutions built for a benign domain. The SWAC, working with DAFSA, is 
leading this transformational shift by analyzing thousands of possible 
architectures for each mission area and evaluating the performance, 
cost, and resilience of each to clearly define the threat, inform 
requirements, and increase transparency with potential solution-
providers to expedite the delivery of capabilities. Space Force is 
adopting this approach across all elements of force design to ensure it 
can accelerate concept development, access the most cutting-edge 
science and technology, use digital engineering, and integrate 
acquisition efforts, turning designs into fielded systems at the speed 
of need. This method also increases access to a more diverse base of 
satellite vendors and launch providers.
    Through a unity of effort approach to acquisition of enduring 
advantages, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space 
Acquisition and Integration leverages the Program Integration Council 
to communicate and align efforts among senior leaders from the Space 
Systems Command, Space Rapid Capabilities Office, Department of the Air 
Force Rapid Capabilities Office, Space Development Agency, National 
Reconnaissance Office, Missile Defense Agency, United States Space 
Command, Space Operations Center, and the Air Force Research 
Laboratory. In conjunction with this process, the formal transfer of 
the Space Development Agency into the Space Force at the beginning of 
fiscal year 2023 will enhance the Space Force's ability to integrate 
innovative acquisition approaches and deliver new satellites and ground 
system prototypes into the operational baseline.
    Technology and pacing threats are evolving at an ever-increasing 
rate, and achieving enduring advantages means the Space Force must 
undergo a transformation from current legacy systems to the 
architectures needed to be competitive. The Space Force is leveraging 
technology to deliver game-changing space capabilities and solidify an 
ecosystem through our University Research Consortium. Quantum 
technologies, counter-hypersonics, artificial intelligence/machine 
learning, and directed energy are several of the emerging technologies 
that are necessary to integrate into the Space Force architectures to 
stay ahead of potential adversaries.

                        UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

    The United States Air Force remains integral to the Nation's 
defense and continues to lead the joint team by developing and 
deploying critical capabilities in support of Defense priorities. The 
Air Force does so through the execution of its mission statement: 
``Fly, Fight, and Win . . . Airpower Anytime, Anywhere.'' The Air Force 
brings unparalleled speed, agility, survivability, mobility, and strike 
to the joint fight while simultaneously providing command and control, 
reconnaissance, and deterrence capabilities. Simply put, no one else 
can do what the Air Force does, and without its capabilities, the joint 
force loses.
    As the Air Force celebrates its 75th anniversary as an independent 
service this year, our Airmen can look back and honor three-quarters of 
a century of pioneering. Since 1947, Airmen have dutifully executed 
their mission successfully in the same way the Airmen of today are 
called to do: ``Innovate, Accelerate, and Thrive.'' Innovation, fueled 
by Airmen, is the Air Force heritage. Airmen continue to push 
technological and cultural boundaries, making the Air Force the leader 
in airpower. For 75 years, the Air Force has kept pace with rapid 
changes in technology, modernizing platforms, and accelerating 
advancements in tactics with unprecedented success. Our Nation's Airmen 
thrive as the world's greatest Air Force because of those who have gone 
before us--particularly those who weren't afraid to break barriers. 
This success was hard-fought to achieve, and it must be fiercely 
maintained into the future.
    Maintaining the Air Force's role as the global leader in airpower 
requires us to Accelerate Change or Lose. In an environment of 
aggressive global competitors and technology development and diffusion, 
the Air Force must accelerate change to control and exploit the air 
domain while also underwriting national security through nuclear 
deterrence to the standard the Nation expects and requires. The 
necessity to Accelerate Change or Lose is the impetus behind the 
Department of the Air Force's operational imperatives, which are 
identifying the changes and investments needed to be successful. To 
best address these necessary changes, the Air Force must balance risk 
over time. The Air Force will develop and field new capabilities 
expeditiously while selectively divesting older platforms that are no 
longer relevant to our pacing challenge--all while maintaining 
readiness. The Air Force must ensure its path continuously drives 
toward readiness to be best prepared when called upon by the Nation. 
Accelerating change means both getting the direction right and moving 
as fast as possible.
    In last year's budget submission, the Air Force began the process 
of making hard decisions to modernize the force. Last year's budget 
highlighted the Air Force the Nation needs for 2030 and beyond, and the 
message has not changed: the need to modernize is critical to counter 
strategic competitors. The Air Force is taking measured risks in the 
near-term while simultaneously prioritizing an affordable, defensible 
force structure that grows readiness over time and accelerates 
investment in critical capabilities to deter and defeat an advancing 
threat. Continued collaboration with Congress enables us to best 
execute the resources that protect the Nation and, in turn, secure 
vital national interests and backstop the security of allies and 
partners. This process will not end with the fiscal year 2023 budget; 
additional difficult decisions will be required in the future.
    The character of war continues to change. Advances in technology 
produce a combat environment that rewards speed, tempo, agility, 
lethality, and resilience. These have been hallmarks of the Air Force 
since its inception, and it takes the solemn task of building upon 
those attributes as part of the joint team very seriously. The Nation 
deserves and demands nothing less.
               air force's role in integrated deterrence
    The Air Force plays a unique role in integrated deterrence as the 
Nation's leading and most agile choice for executing seamlessly across 
warfighting domains, theaters, and spectrums of conflict. The Air Force 
provides a range of combat-credible capabilities backed by a safe, 
secure, and reliable nuclear deterrent. As stewards of two-thirds of 
the nuclear triad and three-fourths of the Nation's NC3, the Air Force 
foundationally enables the Nation's nuclear deterrence for a stable 
international order. Relationships and connections with the interagency 
and allies and partners--whether in the Indo-Pacific with Japan, 
Australia, and the Republic of Korea or as demonstrated by current 
deployments in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization--are 
critical elements of integrated deterrence. Across the joint force, 
combatant commands, and allies and partners, Air Force airpower 
capabilities prove invaluable as demand consistently exceed supply. 
Through focused efforts to balance near-term risk, the Air Force is 
able to continue supporting these demands while accelerating 
investments in future capabilities.
    Nuclear deterrence is a significant part of integrated deterrence. 
The United States' strategic deterrent provides the joint force, allies 
and partners, and the Nation security guarantees while deterring other 
nations' use of nuclear weapons. The nuclear deterrent can also serve 
as a deterrent to other strategic attacks on American and allied vital 
interests in general and provides critical reassurance to strategic 
allies. As the Service responsible for the majority of the Nation's 
nuclear capabilities, the Air Force's fiscal year 2023 budget continues 
investments and improvements to sustain and reinforce strategic 
deterrence.
    Capable of providing prompt, overwhelming response, the ground-
based leg of the nuclear triad is a critical capability for deterring 
peer adversaries and is fully funded in the fiscal year 2023 budget. To 
ensure this capability remains ready, the Air Force is modernizing with 
the Sentinel system, our Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). Its 
on-time delivery is critical as the existing Minuteman III fleet ages 
and our pacing challenge is investing heavily to grow and modernize its 
nuclear arsenal. The PRC recently built more than 100 new 
intercontinental ballistic missile silos in its western desert. At the 
same time, Russia's nuclear modernization efforts are more than 80 
percent complete, and Russian leaders publicly stated the nuclear 
forces were recently placed on high alert. The United States has 
delayed nuclear recapitalization as long as possible, and consistent 
investment in the Sentinel comprehensive weapon system is an absolute 
necessity.
    The Air Force's nuclear-capable bomber force provides the second 
leg of the Nation's nuclear triad. The B-21 Raider represents the 
future of our bomber force. As the most flexible leg of the nuclear 
triad, the B-21 is a unique national security capability. This budget 
includes additions to continue Engineering and Manufacturing 
Development and support to nuclear certification. In support of the 
operational imperative, as the B-21 family-of-systems is defined, the 
Air Force will develop, test, and field the B-21 while pursuing the 
potential to introduce a lower-cost, complementary, uncrewed aircraft 
to provide an enhanced level of conventional capability. As the Air 
Force modernizes, it will continue the transition to a two-bomber fleet 
capable of nuclear and conventional weapons delivery through the B-21 
and B-52. These modernized capabilities will provide global nuclear and 
conventional global strike options for decades to come.
    The Air Force must continue its investment in researching, 
developing, testing, and fielding cost-effective long-range traditional 
and hypersonic weapons. The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-
Extended Range is funded at maximum production capacity, and the Long-
Range Standoff Weapon continues in development, providing future 
nuclear long-range strike options. The hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid 
Response Weapon system is funded for completion of development; 
however, production funding is deferred until successful flight tests 
occur. The Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM) continues in full-
scale development, while the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile ramps up 
its development. The Air Force must develop these revolutionary 
capabilities and other advanced weapons to maintain a competitive 
advantage over the pacing challenge.
    The Air Force's pursuit of the NGAD family-of-systems ensures air 
superiority in the future through cutting-edge concepts and technology. 
Adversaries are investing in capabilities that erode the Air Force's 
advantage, and NGAD investments continue development efforts for 
advanced sensors, resilient communications, and air vehicle 
technologies. NGAD's family-of-systems will provide survivable, 
persistent, and lethal options through a mix of crewed and uncrewed 
aircraft equipped with a flexible combination of weapons, sensors, 
electronic warfare, and other mission systems as it links with current 
and future targeting systems through ABMS.
    In support of integrated deterrence, the Air Force will be working 
with our allies and partners around the world to ensure that our 
collective, joint, and combined capabilities are used in the most 
effective way possible. ABMS will provide the connectivity and 
collaborative decisionmaking needed to make this possible. The budget 
funds a mix of foundational infrastructure, early increment 
capabilities, and advanced battle management tools as the Air Force 
component of JADC2.
    As the Air Force contributes to integrated deterrence, it will do 
so with the joint force, and allies and partners. The Air Force is 
working broadly to ensure that current capabilities and future weapons 
systems maximize interoperability with allies and partners alike. The 
Air Force is consistently engaged across borders to build, repeat, and 
reinforce a simple message to strategic competitors--the benefits of a 
stable international order far outweigh aggression and instability.
                    air force's role in campaigning
    The Air Force will play a role in a full range of major military 
activities designed to achieve strategy-aligned objectives through 
campaigning. The Air Force will support both permanent and rotational 
deployments, exercises, forward presence, and other activities that 
contribute to maintaining deterrence and support other long-term 
strategic objectives. The Air Force's fielded forces are in constant 
global demand, providing direct military advantage to combatant 
commands, the joint force, and allies and partners while supporting 
diplomatic and whole-of-government efforts. The fiscal year 2023 budget 
investments in ABMS, ACE, readiness and sustainment of fielded forces, 
and continued support to allies and partners highlight some of the key 
roles the Air Force plays in ongoing campaigns to strengthen 
deterrence.
    The Air Force's readiness hinges on the ability to operate, 
maintain, and sustain an aging fleet of aircraft while funding the 
flying hour program to the maximum executable level. Operations and 
maintenance, the largest of Air Force appropriations, funds day-to-day 
operations critical to sustaining readiness, building resiliency, and 
enhancing wartime posture. Weapons system sustainment requirements--
funded at 85%--continue to grow due to aging platforms and the 
acquisition of new, highly technical, and complex weapons systems.
    Air Force rapid global mobility platforms enable power projection, 
extend range and persistence, and ensure air superiority and joint 
force capabilities are in the right place, at the right time. In order 
to maintain our air refueling edge for the joint force, this budget 
continues the fielding of the KC-46 Pegasus aircraft. Recapitalizing 
the Air Force tanker fleet with the KC-46 increases the likelihood of 
mission success while lowering risk in a peer conflict.
    Tactical and strategic airlift underpin the Nation's rapid global 
mobility capability. This budget submission maintains the long-term 
viability of the C-130 fleet and invests in communication and avionics 
capabilities for the C-17. This ensures the Air Force has the right mix 
of platforms to fulfill the joint force demand.
    ISR underpins all military actions, and the Air Force continues to 
balance maintaining and fielding systems that provide combatant 
commands with this critical capability. The ability to win future high-
end conflicts requires accelerating change across the ISR force 
structure to be more connected, persistent, and survivable while 
divesting legacy assets that lack these characteristics. In this 
budget, the Air Force modernizes existing ISR platforms with new 
sensors, cyber, and other classified capabilities while improving the 
ability to fuse data in a resilient network.
    The ability to prosecute targets in advance of our adversaries is 
pivotal to the C2 advantages the Air Force currently holds. The current 
Air Force C2 architecture, including the AWACS and JSTARS platforms, is 
aging, analog, and vulnerable to failure or attack through kinetic or 
non-kinetic means. The fiscal year 2023 budget divests a significant 
portion of both the AWACS and JSTARS fleets while pursuing and funding 
a replacement to close the Air MTI gap while a resilient long-term 
solution is identified.
    Detecting, tracking, monitoring, and striking moving targets at 
scale is a requirement in modern warfare. The Air Force's legacy 
Airborne Moving Target Indicator and Ground Moving Target Indicator 
(AMTI/GMTI) capabilities will be neither effective nor survivable in 
highly-contested environments. The Air Force must be able to operate in 
radar-jamming environments, detect low-observable and hypersonic 
threats, and survive. This operational imperative must integrate with 
ABMS in order to share and take advantage of information at 
operationally-required speeds across all domains. The fiscal year 2023 
budget supports this imperative through investments in future air and 
space capabilities as well as upgrades to existing ones. The Air Force 
will also leverage key allies' capabilities and systems to engage 
multiple mobile targets in the air, on the sea surface, and on the 
ground.
    A modernized C2 architecture will include ABMS, the Air Force's 
contribution to the JADC2 concept, and will accelerate communication, 
enhance decisionmaking, and shorten the kill chain. ABMS must be 
operationally optimized to leverage unprecedented sensing, provide 
processing, and integrate data across multiple domains to warfighters 
when and where needed. fiscal year 2023 increases the investment into 
this critical capability to connect joint and allied and partner teams 
enabling domain awareness, faster decisionmaking, and execution than 
our adversaries.
    Exercising across the joint force and with allies and partners 
helps ensure the Air Force's readiness while reinforcing cooperation 
nationally and internationally. Continued investment in operational 
test and training infrastructure and exercises sends the clear message 
of the Nation's unified goals and collective capabilities. These 
exercises, budgeted to continue this year, enable the Air Force to be 
the partner of choice while also increasing interoperability and 
combined-force planning. These initiatives are especially important 
with those allies and partners who are more susceptible to military 
coercion or aggression.
            air force's role in building enduring advantages
    To build enduring advantages, the Air Force is undertaking a series 
of initiatives to apply current and emerging technologies to solve 
operational challenges while simultaneously building the workforce 
needed for the future. Research and development accounts are increased 
substantially in the fiscal year 2023 budget. These investments are 
focused on placing meaningful military capability into the hands of 
Airmen as quickly as possible. Programs like NGAD, B-21, and JATM are 
moving into and through development toward fielding.
    The Air Force will continue to modernize to ensure a more lethal, 
resilient, sustainable, survivable, agile, and responsive force. As 
such, the Air Force must have a mix of multi-role air superiority 
capabilities and capacity to defend the homeland, project airpower 
globally, and operate as a joint and allied and partner force. The Air 
Force remains committed to the F-35 Lightning II with full Block 4 
capability as the long- term cornerstone of the United States' future 
fighter force. This year's budget submission temporarily reduces F-35 
procurement to invest in the overall tactical aircraft portfolio. This 
includes F-35 fleet modernization and advanced weapons, specifically 
advanced propulsion, the Stand-In Attack Weapon, Block 4 retrofits, and 
enterprise infrastructure. Accelerated F-15EX procurement provides 
expanded weapons carriage capacity and enables a rapid recapitalization 
of the F-15C over the next 2 years before returning to larger F-35 
procurement numbers. Funding of F-22 advanced sensors provides 
capabilities to bridge until replaced by the NGAD family-of-systems. 
The NGAD crewed platform has increased funding in this budget 
submission for continued development, and funds are provided to 
initiate development of an uncrewed combat aircraft. Additionally, 
funding for F-16 modernization supports lethality and survivability 
over the remaining service life by adding capacity to Air Force air 
superiority capabilities.
    Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies and advanced 
collaborative weapons are critical enablers that will transform the 
future joint force and fulfill a crucial role across the Air Force and 
joint force. In order to maintain a competitive edge and build enduring 
advantages, the Air Force will rely on crewed, uncrewed, and 
cooperative teaming platforms. The Air Force is investing to accelerate 
the development of advanced collaborative weapons systems to leverage 
AI and increase lethality in highly-contested environments. Human-
machine teaming will enable Airmen to process massive amounts of data 
and arrive at sound operational decisions more rapidly and with 
confidence.
    Securing enduring advantages depends upon understanding and acting 
in anticipation of long-term challenges such as the transboundary 
threat of climate change. The fiscal year 2023 budget includes funding 
for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program to provide operational 
improvements and reduce energy use. The Air Force is also increasing 
Facilities, Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) funding 
in fiscal year 2023 for both climate-related and operational 
resiliency. As the Air Force updates and repairs facilities, it is able 
to incorporate new climate mitigation techniques and improve energy 
efficiency, quality of life, and mission readiness. Additionally, the 
increased FSRM funding allows us to address the operational imperative 
of ensuring resilient basing, sustainment, and communications in 
contested environments. Facility updates and repairs can be affordably 
executed to reduce climate risk and enhance combat capability and 
mission execution.
    Airmen across the Total Force remain the Air Force's most 
significant enduring advantage. In the fiscal year 2023 budget, the Air 
Force provides funding to address sexual assault prevention and 
response reform, suicide prevention, diversity, equity, and inclusion 
initiatives, quality of life issues, and economic insecurity. The 
budget provides a $15 minimum wage for all civilian employees and 
includes investments to provide affordable childcare for the Total 
Force. The fiscal year 2023 budget also provides funding to cover 
increased costs of living for our military and civilian personnel to 
ensure they receive the pay they deserve and need.

                 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE CONCLUSION

    The Department of the Air Force fiscal year 2023 budget balances 
risk between maintaining current readiness in support of combatant 
commanders today while developing, building, and fielding the force 
needed for the future. The seven operational imperatives help guide 
this transformation, which is just beginning. Throughout the last 75 
years, the Department has shown its resolve and capability to execute 
the missions demanded by our Nation while constantly advancing to 
remain the world's premier air and space forces. This transformation 
will not be easy, but there is no alternative.
    While our Department remains incredibly capable, it cannot make 
these necessary changes alone. Instead, we must operate as ``One 
Team,'' working together within the Department, across the joint force, 
in the interagency, and in concert with our allies and partners. Our 
``One Fight'' unites us all around a common purpose. Russia may pose a 
very visible and acute threat, but the PRC remains our pacing 
challenge. The PRC's military modernization program is well resourced, 
strategic, and sophisticated. The risks to operational and 
technological superiority that we face are grave and increasing over 
time.
    Congressional support enabled the start of this transition to the 
future force the Nation needs, and Congressional support remains 
critical to our success. The necessity of Congressional backing to 
invest in the future while we continue divesting outdated assets and 
building modernized air and space capabilities will only increase as 
the Department continues its modernization efforts to deter, and, if 
called upon, to win the Nation's future conflicts. The defense of the 
Nation demands a transformation to the future air and space 
capabilities that will replace the obsolete platforms of today, and 
this can only be achieved with Congress' support for the difficult 
decisions to come.
    Today, America's Airmen and Guardians deliver innovative solutions 
to some of our Nation's most challenging problems while projecting 
airpower and spacepower around the globe. They remain our competitive 
advantage, and we will ensure they are all provided the opportunity to 
serve to their fullest potential. Every combatant command, ally, 
partner, and American benefits from their selfless dedication. We have 
an immense responsibility to provide our Airmen and Guardians the 
tools, training, platforms, and support they need to safely and 
effectively defend our great Nation, and we will. Change is hard; 
losing is unacceptable. ``One Team, One Fight.''

    Senator Tester. Well, I want to express my appreciation for 
all three of your testimonies and please know your entire 
written testimony will be a part of the record.
    Senator Feinstein, I'll turn to you.
    Senator Feinstein. Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman.
    General Raymond, when Space Force was formed in 2020, the 
Active Duty Air Force Space Units transitioned, as I understand 
it, into that new service. The 16 National Guard Units 
performing space missions, including three in California, were 
left out of the Space Force.
    My understanding is that you're considering taking the 
Space Mission out of the National Guard as you create an 
entirely new Reserve System.
    Wouldn't that lead to a lot of experienced airmen leaving 
the service, and would we lose significant capability during 
the transition period as well as governors losing National 
Guard resources?
    General Raymond. Thank you for that question. Let me just 
state right up front that we operate today with the National 
Guard. We've been operating with the National Guard for 25 
years. They provide critical people and critical capabilities 
to conduct our mission.
    When the law was passed to establish the Space Force, it 
directed us to do a study on how best to integrate the total 
force with this new service. With a service that's only 8,400 
Active Duty, we thought there might be more innovative ways to 
do this and so today we have an Active Duty, we have Air Force 
Reserve that provides support forces to us, and we have Air 
National Guard. That all continues today.
    What we're looking to do is combine the Air Force Reserve 
with the Active Duty and put them in one component and then 
there's several different ways you can organize the National 
Guard. You can leave them in the Air National Guard and have 
them continue to support us like they're doing today. You can 
stand up a separate Space National Guard, or you can take 
capabilities out of the Guard and put them in this one 
component. There's multiple options on the table.
    Senator Feinstein. We're seeing an increasingly close 
collaboration with industry in the development of our space 
capabilities and just last Friday SpaceX launched a Starlink 
mission into space from Vandenberg.
    Many of our smaller high-tech companies say it's difficult 
to work with the Department of Defense and to bridge the period 
between research and development phase and winning a 
procurement contract. This is an issue that the Space Systems 
Command in Los Angeles has been working with industry to 
resolve.
    Can you report on the Air Force and Space Force's progress 
in helping smaller companies bridge the gap between research 
and production?
    General Raymond. I'll be happy to talk about the Space 
Force and then I'll have General Brown talk about the Air Force 
side.
    But on the Space Force side, we are working really hard to 
collaborate with commercial industry. We think it provides us 
great national advantage and we have several things that we're 
doing.
    There's an initiative called Space WERX and in Space WERX, 
we have 270 different efforts going on worth $228 million with 
a 169 different companies. We have another initiative called 
SpecOTA where we have 650 companies involved and 75 percent of 
those are non-traditional partners, the smaller innovative, and 
so we're doing everything we can.
    We have work to do, but we're focused on this and we want 
to get this right.
    Senator Feinstein. Thank you. How do you help smaller 
companies bridge the gap between research and production?
    Secretary Kendall. Senator, if I could take that,----
    Senator Feinstein. Yes.
    Secretary Kendall [continuing]. I'd be happy to do that. 
The issue fundamentally is that we're not aware of these 
companies and aren't supporting them in their early stages of 
development.
    As General Raymond indicated, we spent quite a bit of money 
on early stages of development with a wide variety of 
companies.
    The problem is the prioritization of their products and the 
resources we have to field products, and identifying the things 
that are of high priority to the services and then getting them 
across the so-called ``valley of death.''
    General Raymond and General Brown and I will be reviewing 
all of our ongoing major projects that are technology 
demonstrators to identify those which we think have high 
potential in ensuring they're funded to go to production and 
there will be some in there that are not under any 
circumstances likely to make that path. We need to identify 
those and stop spending money on them. So it's more about, I 
think, senior level management and attention than it is about 
anything else right now.
    Senator Tester. Thank you.
    Senator Shelby.
    Senator Feinstein. Thank you.
    Senator Shelby. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Russia's launched multiple hypersonic weapons as part of 
their invasion of the Ukraine and China is continuing to 
develop its own hypersonic weapons. The speed and 
maneuverability of these weapons makes them much more difficult 
to track and defend against.
    General Raymond, I'll direct this to you. Can you discuss 
here how the Space Force plans to address this growing threat?
    Also to General Brown, do you have anything to add from the 
Air Force perspective? First General Raymond.
    General Raymond. Thank you, Senator Shelby.
    The cornerstone of our budget request this year is to make 
a pivot, to transform to a more resilient----
    Senator Shelby. It's a high priority, isn't it?
    General Raymond. It's the Number 1 priority for us. It's 
our Number 1 mission, and what we're doing is diversifying our 
architecture for two reasons.
    One, we need to be able to detect that hypersonic threat 
and, two, we need to be able to protect from a space threat. So 
the cornerstone of our budget gets after that challenge.
    Senator Shelby. General Brown, you have anything to add to 
that?
    General Brown. What I would add to that is we're very much 
depending on what the Space Force does in that architecture to 
do the warning and then as the Air Force, our job here for air 
superiority is how we respond to that particular threat.
    As you mentioned, Senator Shelby, it is a progressive 
threat. It's a complicated threat, but we have a responsibility 
to not only defend our locations but also defend the air space. 
So it's what we do in the air. It's also what we do with the 
Joint Team, as well. They all have a role to help protect 
against this particular threat and the others.
    Senator Shelby. The hypersonic development offense and 
defense is one of your highest technological challenges, is 
that right?
    General Raymond. We think it requires a new architecture in 
space. I wouldn't say it's all that technologically 
challenging. We just have to make a pivot from very exquisite 
capabilities in geosynchronous orbit to a much more diversified 
architecture lower towards the earth.
    Senator Shelby. Okay. Secretary Kendall, I understand that 
the Joint Strike Fighter Block 4 will bring unmatched 
capabilities to the future fight.
    It appears that the development of this block is more 
challenging than expected, it generally is, you know, in 
technology, and the program continues to experience some 
delays.
    What steps is the Air Force, Mr. Secretary, taking to 
address the development here, and what are your plans to 
address gaps, if any, that could appear here?
    Secretary Kendall. Senator Shelby, we're working closely 
with the Joint Program Office, it's a joint program managed 
separately, and to ensure that everything is done that's 
possible to put pressure on the contractors and to provide 
whatever government assistance we can to get Block 4 delivered. 
It's what we really need for the pacing challenges we discussed 
earlier.
    One of the reasons that we reduced our procurement of F-35 
in this budget request is because the contractor has not been 
delivering Block 4 on schedule. The processing is quite a bit 
late. We're hopeful that will be corrected, but it hasn't been 
done yet. We want to see actual demonstration of progress 
before we increase production.
    Senator Shelby. Mr. Secretary, in the area of aircraft 
divestment, which has been in the budget, the Air Force has 
requested the divestiture of 102 aircraft in 2023 with further 
divestiture over the next 5 years. We know that happens.
    The committee understands the Air Force must be able to 
meet the evolving threat from peer competitors and that 
includes modernizing our existing aircraft as well as investing 
in new capabilities.
    With a constrained budget, how are you going to do this?
    Secretary Kendall. We're trying to manage ourselves through 
this transition and we're trying to manage risk as it changes 
over time.
    The risk to the United States' ability to do its mission, 
the Air Force and Space Force to support our projection in 
particular, is increasing over time. So we have to move to 
future capabilities that are better than our legacy 
capabilities.
    As you mentioned, we're doing that through upgrades to 
programs like the F-22. We're acquiring F-15EX which is a 
modernized version of the F-15, and we're trying to get the 
Block 4 for F-35 as quickly as we can.
    We're also funding the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, 
JATM, which will give us increased capability, as well. So 
there's a wide spectrum of things we're investing in to try to 
get to the future.
    Some of the resources to allow us to do that have to come 
from divestitures of older aircraft which, as we've mentioned, 
are no longer effective against the threat that we're going to 
face.
    Senator Shelby. General Raymond, threats in space, China 
and Russia are challenging our advantage in space by developing 
and testing weapons to deny or destroy U.S. space capabilities.
    I don't know what you can do in an open hearing, but the 
U.S. is not asleep on that. We're very aware of what they're 
trying to do and our challenges there. Are we going to meet 
those challenges?
    General Raymond. With your support, we'll meet those 
challenges. The challenges that we face, I know we're running 
out of time, but it's everything from low-end reversible 
jamming to kinetic destruction and we're keenly focused on 
that.
    Senator Shelby. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Tester. Senator Baldwin.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank all of 
you for your testimony and being here today.
    As you know, assured and affordable access to space is a 
national imperative. To achieve this, we have to advance our 
domestic rocket engines and propulsion technologies.
    We have understandably been focused on developing Stage 1 
engines to reduce our reliance on 1960s Aero-Russian rockets. 
Unfortunately, we have neglected the necessary and 
complementary development of Stage 2 engines.
    Beyond maturing the RL-10 engine, Secretary Kendall, what 
is the overarching Air Force and Space Force strategy to 
advance Stage 2 propulsion technology, and what programs are 
underway at the Air Force Research Lab? What are your plans for 
on-ramping any new and innovative rocket engine technologies 
into our National Space Launch System?
    Secretary Kendall. Thank you, Senator, for the question.
    We are investing in second stage propulsion capability and 
it is, as you mentioned, through the Air Force Research 
Laboratories.
    We're also taking advantage of what we call public/private 
partnerships. The expansion of commercial use of space is 
really providing an economic incentive for a lot of people to 
develop space launch capabilities and we want to take advantage 
of those. We did that in our Phase 2 acquisition of space 
launch capabilities very successfully. We drove costs down 
dramatically by bringing competitors into the equation. So we 
want to go on and do that as we go forward.
    The demands for launch are going to change as our 
architectures in space change. So we'll have different things 
we want to launch with different types of launch systems, but 
there's going to be, I think, a lot of consistency between what 
the commercial world is doing and what the military world is 
doing in that regard. So we'll take advantage of that.
    We're a few years away from the next phase of acquisition 
where we'll do competitive launch acquisitions. In the 
meantime, we're developing technologies through public/private 
partnerships in many cases that will support that competition 
and give us a wide variety of options as well as advanced 
technologies.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
    The next question sort of takes off where I think Senator 
Shelby left off in his questioning about Space Force and what 
you're doing to develop flexible multi-domain systems that can 
meet the current and projected threats, protect American 
interests, and maintain the services that we've come to rely on 
in our day-to-day lives.
    General Raymond, the Space Force's Number 1 unfunded 
priority is $326 million for classified programs. In the 
appropriate setting, can you please share with the committee 
additional specific details on this request and the urgent 
capabilities that this funding would provide, and if there's 
any comments you can make in open session, please do so.
    General Raymond. I would be happy to follow up with the 
committee in a closed hearing to be able to do that and to do 
that well.
    Senator Baldwin. Okay. General Brown, in April 2020, the 
Air Force officially selected Truax Field in Wisconsin to 
receive the F-35 Mission.
    Now there's significant support of that basing decision in 
the community but certainly there are some members of our 
community who expressed concerns regarding noise impacts in 
residential areas and PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl 
substances).
    I worked with Senator Leahy to fund noise mitigation 
through annual appropriations and it will be really important 
for the Department of Defense to get this program implemented 
soon. I'd like to get your support in getting some of the 
physical noise mitigation started before these planes actually 
land in Dane County.
    If you could share some of the lessons learned from other 
bed-downs in terms of noise. For example, realistic numbers of 
sorties and how often the F-35s would be expected to use after-
burners compared to, say, the F-16s that are currently at 
Truax, and then any comments about PFAS and opportunities to 
remediate during current preparations for the bed-down.
    General Brown. First of all, thank you for the support for 
yourself and the rest of your delegation in the community for 
the bed-down and basing there at Truax.
    You know, as we started out with the F-35 Program in our 
early basing, we did not have as much data on the noise 
profiles and as we've been able to fly the aircraft more and 
more, we're better able to characterize the noise profiles and 
then be able to share that at subsequent basing locations using 
actual data and, you know, one of the data points we've found 
is that we're not using after-burners as much as we had 
actually originally modeled.
    And then what we do at every one of our communities, F-35 
or otherwise, we work very closely to make sure we use noise 
abatement procedures, based on our flying windows and flight 
paths, to help bring down the noise and be very sensitive to 
the various communities that we actually have a chance to 
operate and work with.
    On the PFAS, as we bed-down, we will continue our focus on 
PFAS and not allow any of the bed-down to detract from the work 
we're doing on PFAS. So we'll still work through the process 
that we're doing there not only at Truax but all the other 
locations that the Air Force is involved in and put priority on 
both.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
    Senator Tester. Senator Collins.
    Senator Collins. Thank you.
    Let me begin by thanking each member of the panel for your 
important service. It's much appreciated.
    Secretary Kendall, I want to follow up on previous 
discussions that we have had. As the Air Force begins the 
process of selecting the next two Air National Guard refueling 
wings to receive new KC-46 tankers, it is important that the 
Air Force ensure that the National Defense Strategy and the Air 
Force's Arctic Strategy inform the basing decisions.
    In fact, a 2016 Rand Corporation report identified concerns 
that the Air Force was not adequately considering such 
strategic consideration in its basing decisions.
    As you know, the Maine National Guard Air Refueling Wing in 
Bangor is a vital strategic location at our most Transatlantic 
Air Refueling Track.
    Will you ensure a clear focus on the Air Force's strategic 
posture as the service conducts its basing analysis as well as 
ensure that the Bangor Air National Guard Base, which has such 
an extraordinary record, is given a fair review in that 
process?
    Secretary Kendall. Well, thank you, Senator. The short 
answer to your question is yes. Bangor in particular has been a 
base that has a great deal of utility to the department.
    We look at a variety of factors in making basing decisions. 
Mission capability and cost are two at the top of the list, and 
mission capability does include strategic considerations, as 
you indicated.
    We do expect to make a decision on the locations where the 
next two KC-46 allocations sometime later this calendar year.
    Senator Collins. Can you narrow it down beyond that?
    Secretary Kendall. Not at this time.
    Senator Collins. Okay. Let me switch to another important 
issue, Mr. Secretary. You have noted your support for pursuing 
a replacement engine for the F-35A using the AETP Program.
    You've also identified about $6 billion in development 
costs associated with getting the new engine developed and into 
production.
    Has the department done a full cost assessment over the 
lifetime of the platform between the options of replacing the 
F-35's engine versus modernizing the existing F-135 engine?
    Secretary Kendall. Senator, there are a number of options 
to improve the performance of the F-35 engine. The problem we 
have is that it's a fairly complicated situation. You have 
three variants, of course, right, the Navy, the Air Force, and 
the Marine Corps, and the program that we've been funding for a 
long time, which has the most impressive technology at this 
point in terms of fuel efficiency and range extension and so 
on, won't go into all three of those aircraft. At best, it will 
go into two of them.
    So the Department of Defense has to make a decision overall 
about engine modifications and upgrades for the F-35. I expect 
that process to take place over the next few months as we build 
the 2024 budget, but the Air Force as funded is continuing the 
AETP technology development. We're going to need to have a 
decision at a higher level about the overall program for F-35 
engine modifications and upgrades.
    Senator Collins. That leads me into my final question about 
this and that is, have the Navy and the Marine Corps, have 
they--or even the F-35's international partners agreed to the 
concept for replacing the F-135 engine with the new AETP 
engine?
    Secretary Kendall. The short answer is no. Each of these 
services and each of our partners is in a different situation 
with regard to the economics for doing that and the performance 
requirements.
    We have the largest fleet in the Air Force. We will have 
the largest fleet. So we have the greatest interest in this, I 
think, but there's a significant cost associated with a brand-
new engine, the development of that. It's less expensive to do 
an upgrade perhaps and get increased performance and then there 
are other options in-between.
    So again it's a complicated situation and we're going to 
have to sort it out at the DoD (Department of Defense) level as 
we go through the process of preparing the 2024 budget.
    Senator Collins. Having just been in Sweden and Finland 
yesterday, I know how important it is that we have 
interoperability with our international partners, especially as 
we welcome those two countries, one of which has made a major 
purchase of F-35s, into NATO (North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization).
    Thank you.
    Senator Tester. I've had a change of heart. Senator Moran.
    Senator Moran. Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you.
    Let me start with the Secretary. Mr. Secretary, thank you 
for your recent visit to Kansas. You witnessed, I hope, 
firsthand in your mind, I hope this is true, the Defense 
Ecosystem that exists in our State and its ability to support 
many of the Department of the Air Force's programs.
    With the increased funding for Mobility Airlift Forces in 
this year's budget, could you share the timeline for Agility 
Prime and discuss what missions it will impact?
    Secretary Kendall. We haven't resolved that yet. Agility 
Prime is doing some experimentation with some advanced 
technologies you're aware of for electric propulsion.
    There are some missions that look potentially viable in the 
Air Force for that. It's one of those technologies that I 
mentioned earlier that we're going to have to take a hard look 
at it and decide where it might fit in and if we're committed 
to it to get it to where we need it to be and if we're not make 
another decision.
    It's very interesting. I just was briefed by some of the 
companies involved in it. They're making some interesting 
progress, but we're going to have to take a look at the 
operational requirements we might have and our priorities 
basically as we decide how to move forward on that technology.
    Senator Moran. Is there a point in time in which you need 
to make that decision, want to make that decision?
    Secretary Kendall. I would prefer to make it sooner rather 
than later, but there is an open question about what the 
technology can actually provide at this point. So we need some 
more information on that, I think.
    Senator Moran. General Raymond, developing resilient space 
architecture is critical to the entire Joint Force. The growth 
of our competitors' capabilities in space have changed how we 
approach integrated deterrence and defense.
    In facing these competitors, how is our current satellite 
architecture postured to ensure durability and resiliency?
    General Raymond. Thank you, Senator Moran. It's great to 
see you again.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, sir.
    General Raymond. Our capabilities that we have are the 
world's best, but they were built for a different domain. They 
were built for a peaceful benign domain without a threat and 
they were built to detect a class of missiles that are 
ballistic in nature rather than in the case of missile warning/
missile tracking hypersonic maneuverable and hence the need to 
make this shift and hence the cornerstone of our budget is to 
do just that.
    Again, world's best capabilities but designed for a 
different domain. They're very large, they're very few in 
numbers, and they're not very defendable. What we're trying to 
do is just like you do with your financial portfolios where you 
diversify your financial portfolio so you don't go broke if one 
stock takes a tumble. We want to do the same thing with our 
satellite architecture.
    Senator Moran. Tell me then what the Space Force is doing 
to develop a flexible, responsive, reusable, and multi-domain 
system that can meet current and projected threats in space.
    General Raymond. Again, the cornerstone of this budget 
request is this shift to a more proliferated architecture that 
allows us to take advantage of commercial industry in a far 
greater way than we can do today and allows us to also take 
advantage with partnerships with our allies and partners and we 
think together we'll be able to make our projections for IOC 
(Initial Operational Capability) or the 2027 timeframe and 
we're getting after this in a very expeditious manner.
    Senator Moran. And, finally, General Brown, the 
Administration recently announced the establishment of the 
Additive Manufacturing Forward Program. I understand it to be a 
program that's designed to develop partnerships between large 
equipment manufacturers and smaller medium-sized suppliers to 
speed up the advancement of technology and manufacturing.
    We have in our State significant research capabilities at 
our educational institutions and we have manufacturers, large 
and small, that are valuable in this effort.
    How do partnerships that this Manufacturing Forward 
Program, how do those partnerships assist the Air Force in 
achieving its operational objectives?
    General Brown. Well, I personally find great value in the 
partnerships that we build with small companies, with academia 
because we bring in the best from across our Nation, not only 
those in uniform or in the Department of the Air Force or 
Department of Defense, but a lot of the outstanding work that's 
happening at our universities and other companies and so we all 
learn from each other as we move forward because it all does 
contribute to our national security and how we advance as a 
Nation and so there's plenty of opportunities as we work with 
AFWERX, for example, with Air Force Research Lab, and how we 
make those connections not only between the Air Force but also 
with the small companies.
    It's also pushing us a bit as a department in how we work a 
little bit differently in our approaches to bring in technology 
and innovation and spur that also internal to the Air Force, as 
well.
    Senator Moran. Does the Air Force intend to make 
investments in those small and medium manufacturers?
    General Brown. We do, and we use AFWERX to do that. One of 
our challenges, as the Secretary highlighted a little bit 
earlier, is how do we take some of these ideas and prototypes 
and get them across, as we call it, the ``valley of death'' and 
then beyond prototyping into meaningful operational capability 
and that's something we've got to continue to work on to ensure 
and then make some decisions on which of the technologies are 
actually going to add value and which ones still need to 
develop or may not have military application.
    Senator Moran. Senator Collins is always so gracious in 
thanking you all for your service. To sound repetitive, I would 
join her in those remarks and this is always one of the most 
distinguished highly-educated important panels that we have in 
front of our committee. Thank you for your service.
    Senator Tester. Senator Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much, and 
again I would echo that. We do appreciate your service. You all 
are all very talented people that could be doing other things, 
but we appreciate your service to the country in so many 
different ways.
    The Air Force's fiscal year 2023 budget increases 
experimentation and prototyping efforts for hypersonics. 
Specifically, you requested $650 million for hypersonic 
prototyping.
    Secretary Kendall, how fast is China modernizing its 
hypersonic defense capabilities, and are we keeping pace?
    Secretary Kendall. Thank you, Senator.
    China's had a fairly aggressive hypersonics program for 
some time, and they've been focused on boost glide vehicles, 
boosted vehicles.
    I've been asked about the comparison between the U.S. and 
China before and I said that we're comparable. The U.S. is 
ahead in some areas in terms of technology. The Chinese are 
doing more of that in some areas.
    The U.S. is ahead, I think, in air-breathing hypersonics 
technology. The Chinese have been doing more, most recently 
with boost glide vehicles and they're moving more aggressively 
towards the fielding of their systems than we have been.
    But it isn't a race between the U.S. and the Chinese to 
field hypersonics. It's really about a race for technological 
superiority and ability to do the missions that we need to do 
with our militaries and particularly to service the target sets 
that we're concerned about operationally and they're not the 
same. It's not a mirror image situation.
    So I'm not overly disturbed by what China has done in 
hypersonics. I am disturbed by what they have done in longer-
range missiles in general, including their conventional ones.
    So we're both investing--the Air Force is investing in a 
program called ARRW which has had a successful flight test and 
so after three failures, they've had a success which indicates, 
you know, good progress. We have some more tests coming up this 
year.
    We declined to fully fund ARRW for production which was the 
original plan in this budget. We want to see successful flight 
tests before we do that and that's still our position, but 
we're encouraged by what just happened.
    We also have another program called HACM that we have to 
talk about in classified setting. So we are investigating that 
area, both for boost glide and for the air-breathing concepts, 
and I think we'll continue to do so.
    There will be a role for hypersonics in our inventory. 
Because of the real high cost, I don't think it will be 
replacing entirely or even nearly replacing more conventional 
weapon systems, though.
    Senator Boozman. So I know we have some challenges in that 
area. Do we need to, as far as the infrastructure for testing 
and things like that, do we need to maybe look at that, maybe 
beef that up? Is there anything we can do as a committee to 
help you in that regard?
    Secretary Kendall. We do have investment for 
infrastructure. I can't remember the exact number, but we have 
several hundred million dollars, I believe, in infrastructure.
    It's a combination of funding from the Secretary of 
Defense's Office, the Test Resource Management Center, as well 
as from the Air Force itself, and I think others. I think 
that's adequate to meet our most high priorities for 
infrastructure investment.
    Senator Boozman. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    General Brown, the U.S. is certainly trying to strengthen 
our relationships by building our partners' capabilities and 
with all that's going on in the world right now that's 
certainly shown its importance.
    Recent reports indicate that several of our allies plan to 
purchase F-35s. I understand the current plan is to train our 
allies and partners to fly the F-35 here in the U.S. Why is 
that important?
    General Brown. One of the key parts that our Nation has 
worked on continuously in our Air Force is really working very 
closely with allies and partners and one aspect of that 
interoperability is by offering the same equipment. It does 
make interoperability a bit easier and having served both in 
the Pacific and in Europe and was in Europe here just a couple 
months ago to talk with our partners about F-35, but it's not 
just F-35, it's what our airmen do day to day in building those 
relationships and the exercises we get to participate in to 
help us bring forward that interoperability that make us better 
and we're seeing that today in Europe, how closely allies and 
partners are able to work together and how quickly we're able 
to come together based on our long-term relationships.
    Senator Boozman. So timeliness is important, making sure 
that we hit our projected dates is important in regard to their 
ability to receive and train?
    General Brown. Exactly. The more we spend time together to 
exercise, the more we know about the respective capabilities of 
our respective Air Forces around the world and our Joint 
teammates and we're actually able to respond much more quickly 
because we've had a chance to work together previously.
    I'd also add that our Air National Guard and National Guard 
at large and their State Partnership Program, the 
relationships, and those have proven dividends because of their 
relationships that they have, as well. So it really is a team 
effort across the board.
    Senator Boozman. Good. Thank you. Can I just say one other 
thing that's important? General Brown, we talked about this a 
little bit on the phone the other day and you were very 
gracious, but we have a situation where the overseas cost of 
living allowance is going to go down like 45 percent.
    There was an article today that in Europe energy prices are 
going to go up 26 percent. So we've got this kind of perfect 
storm brewing there and certainly, you know, with retaining our 
personnel, getting personnel, the list goes on and on.
    I know you're looking at that and I appreciate that, but I 
do think that this is something that's important and I know you 
know it's important, too.
    So thank you all very much.
    Senator Tester. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Gentlemen, thank you, appreciated the opportunity for 
conversation last week and the opportunity to continue that 
this morning.
    Let me start first with you, Secretary Kendall. This 
relates to the KC-135s and the basing timing on all of that. 
You noted during our meeting that the Air Force is likely to 
delay the basing of KC-135s in the interior as the community 
deals with the issue of housing as they anticipate this influx 
of personnel.
    As we discussed, the Fairbanks North Star Borough has been 
working hard on this with the local community to accommodate 
the 3,500 new Active Duty airmen that are coming, many of whom 
are here with the F-35s, but I just want to get your commitment 
here today that again the Air Force will continue to work 
closely with the community to ensure that the basing of the KC-
135s are completed as quickly as possible and then also that 
you can just keep the Alaska delegation informed here on the 
requirements necessary to remove this non-concurrent travel 
stipulation for the assignments there at Eielson.
    Secretary Kendall. Absolutely, Senator Murkowski. I express 
my appreciation for your support in working with the 
communities in Alaska to get the housing that we need. I know a 
lot of effort has gone into that. It's really appreciated.
    I think we'd all like to get out of this unaccompanied 
situation as quickly as we possibly can. So we are committed to 
bringing those additional aircraft, the four tankers, up to 
Alaska. The F-35s, I think, are already there.
    So we are going to have the people come. We want to get 
them there and get them in to permanent housing. So as soon as 
you can do that, the better, and as soon as we can lift the 
restraint, we would love to do so. So we're happy to work with 
you on that.
    Senator Murkowski. Good. We want to get them as soon as 
possible. We also want to make sure that their families are 
well taken care of and the community knows we have that 
responsibility.
    It's interesting to follow Senator Boozman with his 
question on the cost of living issues. One of the issues that's 
been raised by the local community there in North Pole and in 
Fairbanks is that the basic allowance for housing is not 
sufficient to cover the realistic housing costs, again a 
financial stressor that makes it difficult.
    We just received this copy of analysis from AIDEA, which is 
our Alaskan Industrial Development and Export Authority, 
effectively suggesting that the BAH (basic allowance for 
housing) needs to be revisited because of the discrepancy here.
    So I know that this report has been provided to the Air 
Force, but I'd like your commitment to work with our local 
developers to better understand their data and support the DoD 
in ensuring that BAH calculations actually reflect the true 
and, as you know, the very unique market dynamics of living in 
the North.
    Secretary Kendall. Absolutely. BAH and increases in BAH 
recently have been a problem across the Department. Secretary 
of Defense Austin has been focused on this, as well. So we have 
done some out-of-cycle things. We have done some things to try 
to make sure we can accommodate people and when housing prices 
go up quickly.
    Now in terms of longer-term things, we'd be happy to work 
with you to try to understand that. We want to give our Airmen 
and Guardians, you know, the resources they need to live in the 
communities where they're assigned. So we will work closely 
with you on that.
    Senator Murkowski. Good enough. One of the other issues 
that I raised was the replacement for the E-3s for the AWACs 
(airborne warning and control system). I'm excited to hear 
about the E-7 Wedge Tail. The concern, of course, is this gap 
between when the E-7s come on.
    We've been hearing for years that our E-3s are unreliable. 
They can fly less than 50 percent of the time due to just the 
aircraft breaking down with their engines, their hydraulics, 
their airframes, and yet we understand full well how critical 
this is to our homeland defense missions.
    So I understand that the timeline for procuring the E-7 and 
replacing the E-3s is longer out than many would have hoped, 
but the concern again I have is that we're going to see our E-
3s flying much less than 50 percent of the time before we're 
really ready to do this swap-out.
    So if you can give the committee any update in terms of 
what you think that timeline might be and whether you can 
provide any assurance that Alaska might be considered for that 
first basing location of the E-7s.
    Secretary Kendall. The second part of your question, Alaska 
is very important for that mission for homeland security and 
for other missions. So it will compete very well for E-7 
locations. We haven't made those decisions yet obviously.
    Senator Murkowski. Understood.
    Secretary Kendall. The timeline is driven by the period of 
time it takes to get an aircraft built. They're commercial 
aircraft. They have to be built for us. It takes about 2 years 
and it takes about 2 years to modify them, to convert them into 
the early warning and battle management system that we need.
    We are looking at ways to try to accelerate that process 
and we're trying to be as creative about that as we can be.
    The budget this year requests $230 million roughly to start 
acquiring the E-7s and your support for that, again a 
continuing resolution would be a problem for us in terms of 
getting that going. So if we could do something to avoid that 
issue and to accelerate getting those funds on contract that 
would be very helpful.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
    I was pleased that Senator Feinstein asked a question of 
you, General Raymond, about the Space Force and Space Force 
National Guard.
    So thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Tester. Thank you.
    Before I get to Senator Hoeven, I'll do my questions now 
and it's been referenced in previous questions, but China's 
modernizing its military. We've seen recent hypersonic tests 
with the glide vehicle capable of launching a warhead.
    We're not in classified session. So if you want to walk 
through the modernization programs to counter that, you can. 
What I'm more concerned about is what the major challenges to 
those modernization programs are and we'll just stop right 
there for now.
    Secretary Kendall. The modernization programs generally for 
conventional deterrence fall under the seven operational 
imperatives that I listed when I gave my opening statement.
    We also obviously have modernization programs in the 
Strategic Deterrent and we're fully funding GBSD (Ground Based 
Strategic Deterrent), the B-21, and NC3, Nuclear Command and 
Control.
    So those things are all being done to recapitalize the 
deterrent. They're kind of at the top of our list. There are a 
number of things which would fall under one or the other of the 
operational imperatives, some of which are near-term and some 
of which are longer-term.
    The nearer-term categories are upgrades to F-22, getting 
Block 4 of F-35 funded, getting JATM (Joint Advanced Tactical 
Missile) into production. In the longer-term are some of the 
things like next-generation air dominance and unmanned combat 
aircraft, airborne battle management kind of fits into it, 
battle management in general, advanced battle management kind 
of falls into bins that cover, you know, continuum of fieldings 
basically.
    Strengthening our bases, making them more resilient is 
something that we can do some things about fairly quickly and 
other things which will take more time. So there's a wide mix 
of things.
    We're looking at greater operational performance or 
capabilities from space under the Space Order of Battle. So we 
started the transformation there to resilient systems. We have 
a lot more work to do, I think, on the side of protecting our 
forces from other people's assets in space. There's more work 
that needs to be done to define that. So there's a wider 
variety of things.
    Now when I talk about hard choices ahead, it's because we 
need to transform so much of current capabilities into the 
advanced capabilities that we're going to need to take on what 
is truly becoming a peer competitor and we are in a race for 
technology superiority. There's no question about it.
    China is very actively fielding the systems that it thinks 
will defeat the United States' ability to project power and we 
have to respond to that.
    Senator Tester. General Raymond, can you tell us at least, 
and if you can't find, that's fine, about China's test and 
whether the Space Force investments are sufficiently aligned to 
ensure our capabilities in space?
    General Raymond. Sir, the Space Force investments are 
directly in line with the National Defense Strategy and 
directly in line with being able to successfully detect and 
track the threat that you talked about and that's the 
foundation of our budget request.
    Senator Tester. And we're moving along on an appropriate 
time table?
    General Raymond. Yes, sir. In the budget request we fund to 
IOC, we'll begin launching satellites the end of 2024-early 
2025 and reach IOC in 2027.
    Senator Tester. Okay. And so, General Brown, from an Air 
Force capability standpoint, what are we investing in to 
maintain our air superiority?
    General Brown. Well, Secretary Kendall hit most of the key 
points, but what I would tell you, Chairman Tester, there's a 
mix of capability. When I look at our fighter portfolio and the 
four fighters we're investing in with the next generation air 
dominance, upgrades to the F-22 that will be replaced by next 
generation air dominance, the F-35 and the F-15EX that we're 
bringing on, but it's also the combination of the weapons and 
so Joint Advanced Tactical Missile is a key part of this as 
well as our JASSM Extended Range to provide additional 
capability from a strike standpoint and we also talked a bit 
about hypersonics, but it is a full mix of capability that will 
help us with the air superiority piece, in addition to the 
other areas with our nuclear portfolio that's fully funded and 
aspects of upgrades to existing systems, like the B-52, which 
will be with us, and we also mentioned the E-7 to make the 
transition from E-3 to E-7.
    So I think the key part for us here across the board is how 
we balance that risk with meeting today's requirements for the 
combatant commanders and continuing to make sure we're making 
modernization efforts so that we drive down risk against our 
pacing challenge.
    Senator Tester. I want to talk about divestment for a 
second. This budget proposes eliminating a 102 aircraft. It's 
going to save $1.2 billion in 2023.
    Secretary Kendall, oftentimes requests to divest platforms 
are accompanied with promises to reinvest with modern tech 
capabilities which just as often end up delayed and over 
budget. As a result, cost savings don't materialize and we risk 
creating capability gaps.
    Can you tell me why we should be more assured with this 
budget than with what's previously happened?
    Secretary Kendall. The overruns we have on our programs 
tend to be in development and from my experience as Under 
Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, the 
average program in the Department of Defense overruns by about 
25 percent. That's the historical average over many years. The 
average production program overruns by about 10 percent in its 
early years and that is more stable and predictable.
    We have to manage to some degree with the expectation that 
those things are continuing to happen to some degree. I've been 
in the business of defense acquisitions for about 50 years and 
development is inherently difficult. It's inherently risky.
    We're taking a lot of steps to try to manage that and do it 
effectively with strong incentives, be judicious about our 
requirements. There's been pressure on the department to take 
risk and move more quickly and fail early and fail, you know, 
and learn from it.
    I actually think we have to get the balance right between 
risk management and how we structure programs for reasonable 
success, but I don't think any of us should expect an advanced 
development program doing something that's never been before to 
execute perfectly. If we budgeted it so that happened, we put 
excessive amounts of money into most of our programs.
    So we need to have some expectations of reasonable 
disruptions during the development phase at least. We need to 
fail in the earlier stages when we're experimenting and costs 
are relatively low and we can learn from those failures and 
then structure programs that will get to the products that we 
need and put them in the field.
    The guidance I have given to my acquisition people is that 
I want programs structured to get meaningful military 
capability as quickly as possible. So if a demonstration is on 
the path to that or an experiment is on the path to that, then 
that's fine, but people need to keep that goal in mind.
    At the end of the day, this is about real military 
capability that will scare our adversaries and that isn't real 
until it's actually in the hands of our operators in meaningful 
quantities.
    Senator Tester. Okay. Thank you.
    Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Chairman.
    One of the programs that I worked on very closely with 
Chairman Tester is getting new helicopters for the missile 
fields. Right now that's the Grey Wolf Program.
    Secretary, are you confident that this program's on track? 
I know initially they'll be going to Malmstrom, given the 
mountains and some of the challenges they face, but is the 
program on track, and when do you anticipate we might see them 
at the Minot Air Force Base?
    Secretary Kendall. I have no information that it's not. I 
haven't looked at the program closely. I believe we start 
production this year. So given that, I think we're in 
reasonably good shape, but I can check and get back to you with 
a more detailed answer.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, and as I've told you, it's really 
important. We've got these young airmen flying these 
helicopters. The helicopters are much older than the airmen 
flying them and at night they have to use these LED lights to 
put on the consoles to even see their gauges and so, most of 
the time we have really great weather up in North Dakota. As 
you know, you've been good enough to come.
    As a matter of fact, I think all three of you and you're 
always invited again. We love having you come up, but on 
occasion there's a cold day or a blustery day and they're out 
flying out to those missile fields at night, might be in the 
mountains or wherever.
    So it really is an important program and we've worked hard 
to get it funded and are anxious to see it deployed out there.
    Secretary Kendall. I've been on those helicopters, Senator, 
and they bring back flashbacks of Vietnam.
    Senator Hoeven. I mean, it's a great ride and it's iconic, 
but it's time for new ones. Appreciate you supporting that.
    Also, the CERP Program, Commercial Engine Replacement 
Program, on the B-52s is, of course, new, designed to save time 
and money. How is that going, that program?
    Secretary Kendall. It's proceeding, but it's relatively 
early stages. People ask me about programs, as you have, all 
the time, and I for years have told political appointees never 
say a program is going great. Until it's done, it's not done, 
and programs that have not actually built anything and 
demonstrated that they can deliver are particularly of concern.
    So at this point in time I have no reason to be concerned 
about that program but I worry about all of our programs.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, in fact,----
    Secretary Kendall. It's not just buying new engines. It's a 
fairly significant modification to the B-52s. It has to go 
along with putting the engines on and there's some other 
subsystems involved, as well. So I have no information that 
would say we're having any trouble at this point, but it's a 
program like any other that we have to watch for and manage the 
risk on.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, that's a good answer. I mean, I think 
that's exactly how you should approach it. So I appreciate that 
very much.
    The last question I have for you is on the Federal Tuition 
Assistance Program. We have worked very hard to make sure that 
that program's available to Guard and Reserves as it is to 
Active Duty forces. The Army's doing this. The Air Force 
typically hasn't been. We pushed very hard to make it happen. 
We've had great bipartisan support on it.
    I want to make sure that you're supportive of it in the 
budget process. It's not in the budget process this time. I'm 
pretty sure we're going to work pretty hard to make that happen 
in the appropriations process.
    This is incredibly important because we get these brilliant 
young people that come into the Guard often helped them pay for 
college tuition. These are the guys that can handle the 
technology. They forgot more about technology than old guys 
like me will ever know and we get them in there while they're 
going to school to get the tuition assistance and we keep them 
because they find out how great it is. It's really important as 
a recruiting tool and it's really important for the young 
people themselves.
    Secretary Kendall. Yes. I think we have about a quarter of 
the total Guard force is eligible for the program because 
they're under Federal rules instead of under the Guard rules.
    The cost of the program is not very high. I have not had a 
chance to look at it carefully, but I will take a look at it 
and see if it could possibly be put in the budget. It's not in 
the budget right now.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, that's right, and we've worked to get 
legislation and we've worked to get appropriation funding. 
You've got the pilot program going. Army's used it very well. 
Recruitment's more important now than ever for these great 
young people. We need this tool. It's a good one for you. It's 
really popular with the Guard and Reserves, too, and it's all 
about being able to use both the G.I. Bill and the Tuition 
Assistance Program together.
    Thank you, Secretary, for your strong leadership.
    General Brown, LRSO (Long-Range Standoff), are you fully 
committed to it? How's it coming? It is all about updating, of 
course, our long-range standoff systems for the Air Force.
    General Brown. It's very important because it is part of 
our nuclear portfolio. It's going to replace a 30-year-old air 
launched cruise missile. We've had successful tests, but I'll 
kind of take the lead from my Secretary that we don't want to 
say it's all good until we actually get it into the hands of 
our airmen, but the tests so far have been positive but it is a 
very important part of our portfolio, our nuclear portfolio, 
and we're fully behind it.
    Senator Hoeven. Same question regarding the GBSD, Ground-
Based Strategic Deterrent--you just came up with a new name, 
Sentinel. Same question.
    General Brown. Right. We have great partnership between the 
Air Force Global Strike Command and their industry partner, 
great continuing dialogue. Right now all the things that we're 
working towards are keeping that program on track. It's fully 
funded just like the rest of our nuclear portfolio and so I'll 
just tell you that I get about quarterly updates with the CEO 
(Chief Executive Officer) from our industry partner where we 
talk about this particular program. So it's on a positive track 
and we want to keep it on that positive track.
    Senator Hoeven. MQ-9, with what we're seeing in Ukraine, 
and no matter where we are in conflict, you all always have to 
be there and you always have to be there in new, innovative, 
and creative ways with technology that meets the needs of all 
the other services as well as defeats our adversaries or helps 
our allies defeat our adversaries.
    So what about the MQ-9, your commitment to it and also the 
replacement platform to make sure that--I know how much in 
demand that capability is--to make sure you have that 
capability now and in the future?
    General Brown. Right. So we look at our ISR portfolio which 
MQ-9 is a part of, we want to make sure that we have a 
portfolio that is capable of operating in various environments.
    The MQ-9 is a very good platform in an uncontested 
environment or lightly-contested environment and so we want to 
keep the MQ-9 and we'll continue to keep the MQ-9 and do 
modifications to it, but it's also the mix of other 
capabilities that we can talk more about in classified session 
which you and I have talked about before that brings that mix 
of capability.
    The upgrades that we put into the MQ-9 we want to make sure 
it is still viable and still has its capability to be able to 
operate particularly as you start to see more and more 
challenges around the world and balance that against the other 
capabilities that we will use in a classified capabilities that 
are connected, persistent, and survivable in all types of 
scenarios.
    Senator Tester. Senator Moran.
    Senator Hoeven. Mr. Chairman, just a question for you. Will 
there be a chance to ask some more questions after, a second 
round?
    Senator Tester. Well, yes, go ahead. We'll give Senator 
Moran one and then I'll give you one and then you can put the 
rest in for QFRs.
    Senator Hoeven. Fantastic. Thank you.
    Senator Moran. Chairman Tester, thank you.
    Gentlemen, what have you learned as a result of the Russian 
invasion of Ukraine and what then has transpired? I assume 
that--I mean, is there a consequence to your budget request? If 
you were drafting your budget today instead of when you did, 
would it look any different, and a reminder, I mean, I assume 
that the supplemental appropriations are clearly important on 
this topic, and I would highlight that while yesterday's 
passage in the Senate of something we referred to as money for 
Ukraine in many instances is money for our defense and 
replenishing the things that we've expended money on already, 
but it's not so much about asking what you need in dollars but 
strategically in a longer-term look at what the Air Force 
needs.
    Is there something that we have learned from what's 
transpired in the last few months?
    Secretary Kendall. Senator, I don't think there's anything 
that would change anything in our budget submission 
fundamentally. It'll be time before we can sort out all the 
lessons learned from what's happening in Ukraine. Different 
observers will, I think, take away different lessons. We need 
to be very conscious of that.
    For me, the importance of air power and the importance of 
controlling the air to success on the ground is very obvious. 
The Russians have not been able to take control of the air 
effectively.
    One of the principal reasons for that is the success of the 
Ukrainians with their air defense systems. You know, they had 
essentially Russian air defense systems they used. We've given 
them Stingers and they've been effective, too, but they've been 
able to keep those systems alive against what is essentially, a 
4th generation threat.
    Now part of that equation is that the lack of training and 
the lack of professionalism by the Russian Air Force has been a 
major factor in the ability of the Ukrainians to do that. So 
you've got to be very careful about, you know, broad lessons 
from this when there are a lot of specifics that come together. 
So I think there's some tactical things like that.
    At a higher level, the unity of NATO and its value I think 
as an alliance has been made very, very clear. President Putin 
made some very severe miscalculations. He miscalculated about 
his own military and he miscalculated about the willingness and 
the capability of the Ukrainians to fight. He underestimated 
NATO and our resolve. He underestimated the West in general and 
our allies around the world, and he's suffering very severe 
economic sanctions that I hope will be in place for some time 
as a result of what he's done, and we have Sweden and Finland 
applying now for NATO membership.
    So he's getting the opposite of the consequences he failed 
to accomplish his objective, and hopefully he will learn 
something from this that we won't have to do anything like this 
again.
    Another major lesson, of course, is that major power 
aggressions do occur. They're not a relic of history and this 
is, I think, an emotional event for an awful lot of people to 
see this actually happen, to see a country like Russia roll 
into a country that has done nothing to provoke the attack the 
way he has here.
    It's the thing that we most need to deter. The budget that 
we presented, the operational imperatives that we're working 
on, the strategy would integrate deterrence and so on that the 
Secretaries laid out are all about making sure that we can 
deter an act just like this from happening anywhere in the 
world but particularly from a major power like Russia or China.
    Senator Moran. Do you expect our NATO allies to continue to 
be supportive, it's long-lasting in this effort, and can we be 
successful in getting them to increase their support?
    Secretary Kendall. I do, and I think that I give Secretary 
Austin and Secretary Blinken in particular a lot of credit for 
their work with NATO and the President.
    I had dinner with the Finnish Ambassador shortly before 
this happened and his comment to me at the time was, ``It is 
highly unlikely that anything you're doing will prevent Putin 
from invading. He has decided to do that and he's going to do 
it, but the way you're working with your partners is preparing 
us to deal with the aftermath of the invasion very 
effectively,'' and that's exactly what has happened.
    The other thing that the Administration has done, I think, 
is to use intelligence incredibly effectively to build 
credibility for what we're going to say and we were telling our 
allies and partners what was going to happen and then it did 
happen and I think that was very valuable to the 
Administration, to our country, and to our national security in 
general.
    So I think we have had a very good course. I really 
appreciate the support of the Congress over the last few weeks 
as we've asked for money and funds and authorities and so on to 
address this issue. The bill that's up here now I think is very 
important in continuing that effort and showing our resolve. So 
what you have done is deeply appreciated, as well.
    Senator Moran. Thank you.
    Senator Tester. Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Hoeven. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
    General Raymond, the Grand Forks Air Force Base is going to 
be part of SDA's new network, the LEO Network, Grand Forks 
along with Redstone, Alabama. That's very important to us, and 
we've actually done quite a bit in the appropriations process 
to make sure that that happens and proceeds on time. We've made 
a substantial commitment to that, as you know, in the current 
fiscal year, and we intend to continue to do that.
    Now SDA's coming under your umbrella at Space Force and so 
I guess can you assure me that the Directorate and SDA will 
have the freedom to continue to be as innovative as they have 
and to rapidly and flexibly continue to move forward on an 
amazing but vitally important mission when we look at our near 
peers, which we talked about earlier, whether it's particularly 
China, making sure we have the technological advantage on 
everybody? Are they going to have the freedom to do what they 
need to do to continue with their LEO and other missions?
    General Raymond. Yes, sir. First of all, I was in a 
helicopter over North Dakota this weekend in a wind warning and 
I'll tell you----
    Senator Hoeven. I heard you gave the address at the 
University of North Dakota.
    General Raymond. The commencement, yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you.
    General Raymond. It was an honor to be there.
    Senator Hoeven. I'm sure it was great.
    General Raymond. The Army National Guard provided great 
support out of Bismarck.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you for doing that.
    General Raymond. I had an opportunity to go visit the folks 
up at Cavalier, as well, that are doing great work, but to get 
to your question, we want SDA to come in and be successful. In 
fact, we've taken SDA's capability and integrated them into our 
overall force design to get after this missile warning and 
missile tracking and then also get after a space data transport 
layer. It's of critical importance.
    The Secretary has given very clear direction that although 
they don't come in until 1 October of this year, we're treating 
them like they're in today and we've integrated them into 
everything that we're doing, and the Secretary has also made 
the decision that they're going to come in with the authorities 
that they have today as we mature that integration.
    So I'm very comfortable that they're well positioned to be 
able to continue to do what they're doing but to do it as part 
of a meaningful operational architecture which is going to be 
critical.
    Senator Hoeven. Yes. Mr. Secretary, I'd welcome any 
thoughts you have there, as well.
    Secretary Kendall. As General Raymond indicated, we're 
dealing with SDA today as if they were already part of the 
team. We're anxious to have them onboard, but I think the 
transition's going to be very seamless.
    Senator Hoeven. Okay. I want to thank all three of you for 
your support in terms of that technology. Again, it is so 
important that our warriors have that technological advantage 
and so your approach in terms of transitioning from legacy 
systems to these new technologies I think is really important 
and you're doing it in a creative way.
    General Brown, you and I have had conversations about it. I 
think it's so important. I know how committed you are to it, 
but the way you're doing it I think is the right way and I 
really commend you and thank you for that. Appreciate it very 
much.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the additional time.
    Senator Tester. Absolutely. I've got a couple quick points. 
One of them was an answer that you gave, Secretary Kendall, to 
Senator Moran, and I'm paraphrasing, but I believe you said 
when Russia entered Ukraine in an unprovoked attack, this is 
exactly the kind of aggression we have to deter, and I just 
want to say thank you for that statement.
    We're starting to see some fellow Senators around here that 
don't think we should be in Ukraine and I think that's an 
incredibly bad mistake that has long-term negative effects on 
this Nation that I can't even describe, but when you have a 
situation that Putin has done in Ukraine, it's not acceptable 
and it may be a long ways away from this country, but we cannot 
if we're going to maintain our position as the leader of the 
Free World and a country that stands up for right, we cannot 
allow that to continue.
    One quick question and I'll just give you the opportunity 
to let us know. We've got 4 months to get this budget done. 
That's when the end of September rolls around.
    Can you tell us, Number 1, the importance of getting this 
budget done on time versus last year when it was 6 months late, 
and how devastating a CR (continuing resolution) would be, even 
if it was for 2 or 3 months, how devastating that CR would be?
    Secretary Kendall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I mentioned this briefly in my opening statement, but a CR 
this year would have a particularly negative effect. CRs in any 
year of any duration have a negative effect and as time goes on 
that negative effect compounds.
    We can't increase funding in our R&D programs that we want 
to increase. We can't increase production on programs we need 
to increase production of. We can't start new starts. That's a 
particularly debilitating thing.
    But the thing that's unique about this year is that 
inflation is occurring and is somewhat unpredictable and a CR 
locks you into a previous year's level of funding when prices 
are increasing. So you need to get to a point where you can 
make some adjustments because of that.
    Senator, Chairman, the comptroller of the department has 
sent a letter over about how we want to manage inflation 
effects. We had inquiry from the authorizers on that, and 
basically we want to work with the Congress. We did include 
some inflation assumptions in our budget submission, but there 
is a reasonable possibility that inflation will be a bit higher 
than that.
    We want to be able to work with the committee and the 
Congress to make some adjustments as we understand what fiscal 
year 2023 actually is. We don't want to speculate right now 
about that, but we do want to deal with it when the time comes. 
A CR would make that even more difficult. So it would add to 
the difficulties we would normally see under a CR.
    So appreciate your support and support of the committee for 
getting budgets passed and appropriated on time.
    Senator Tester. Okay. Well, I want to express my 
appreciation for all three of you being here today. I also want 
to echo the statements of my previous Senators talking about 
how truly professional you guys are and I appreciate that.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    For the Senators, you may submit additional written 
questions. We would ask if the questions are submitted that you 
guys respond to them in as appropriate a time period as 
possible.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
               Questions Submitted to Hon. Frank Kendall
               Questions Submitted by Senator Jon Tester
    Question. The Air Force's plan for the future tactical aircraft 
fleet is a ``four plus one'' mix. Both the F-35 and the F-15 are part 
of that plan, but the budget request reduces the procurement of F-35s, 
and also reduces the planned procurements of F-15s. Those two decisions 
seem somewhat at odds with your long-term plan.
    Can you please walk us through this decision?
    Answer. In the fiscal year 2023 President's Budget, we increased 
our investment in the Air Force fighter portfolio by over $1 billion 
from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023. Investments in Next 
Generation Air Dominance Family-of-Systems, F-22 modernization, F-35 
Block 4, F-15EX, and other 4th generation aircraft modifications are 
needed to meet a potential peer threat. Focused modernization actions, 
and reducing force from a seven fighter fleet to four, will grant us a 
fighter fleet that is capable of providing full spectrum dominance to 
fight and win where and when it is required.
    Question. We are hearing concerns from all sectors of the defense 
industrial base concerns about workforce, supply chains and rising 
costs. What are you seeing on the F-35 and F-15EX programs specifically 
in terms of industry performance?
    Answer. The F-15EX Program has not seen an industry impact on 
meeting the F-15EX Rapid Fielding guardrails (the Rapid Fielding 
equivalent of an Acquisition Program Baseline). F-15EX has achieved the 
initial delivery ahead of the Target date of July 2021, is on track to 
achieve Initial Operational Capability ahead of the Trigger date of 
July 2024, and the unit recurring flyaway cost is under the Cost Target 
of $86 million in fiscal year 2020 dollars. These metrics have been 
very consistent over the past year.
    Regarding F-35 performance, please see the attached supplemental 
documentation provided by the F-35 Joint Program Office.
    Question. The Air Force is requesting almost $600 million for the 
continued development of two hypersonic weapons in fiscal year 2023; 
however, test results have been mixed, calling future procurement plans 
into question.
    What is the major hurdle to accelerating the fielding of hypersonic 
weapons? Is it the high cost of needed testing, or is the technology 
not mature? Is the need to rapidly develop and field these weapons 
causing us to take short-cuts up-front that are coming back to bite us?
    Answer. Accelerating the development and fielding of hypersonic 
weapon systems requires advancements within three main areas: 
alignment, maturation, and funding of a technically skilled robust 
national hypersonics workforce to address critical development gaps on 
a consistent basis. Improvements are needed across testing 
infrastructure to support the increased demand, longer range, and 
higher speeds to support all-up-round ground and flight tests. 
Industrial base manufacturing capability and capacity also needs to 
increase in order to achieve production at scale.
    The Air Force has matured and tested hypersonic technology for 
decades at the component level. Integration, development, and testing 
of a novel hypersonic weapon systems requires expansive testing to 
validate all-up-round requirements.
    The DAF has not taken any short-cuts or relaxed any acquisition 
statutory requirements in developing and fielding hypersonic weapons. 
The challenges identified across the DAF hypersonic programs are in 
line with the testing and fielding of a modern weapons system.
    Question. How are you avoiding duplication with the other services 
as you each develop your own hypersonic weapons? And how are you 
managing the industrial base? Do we have enough competition?
    Answer. The Air Force has shaped its investments based on the 
correct mix of munitions, aligned with current OSD and Joint Staff 
planning guidance. This includes balancing stand-off and stand-in 
munitions. We continue to develop hypersonic technologies in close 
concert with OSD, Army, Navy, and international partners to ensure 
information sharing and minimize duplication of efforts.
    Industry has made significant investments to establish the initial 
production infrastructure needed to support rapid delivery of this 
capability to the warfighter, and industry's continued support is 
contingent on their confidence in the government's plans to invest in 
hypersonic weapon systems production. For example, ARRW will be 
postured for low-rate initial production (2 missiles per month) at the 
completion of the rapid prototyping program in fiscal year 2023. 
However, to drive the business case for industry to self-invest, which 
is necessary to increase scale (more than 10 missiles per month) and 
affordability, a clear procurement forecast must be shared with 
industry partners. The DAF is employing its Manufacturing Technology 
program to increase the production readiness of small and medium size 
manufacturers to meet requirements for ARRW and HACM across a number of 
system subcomponents. Additionally, DAF is leveraging OSD's 
Manufacturing Technology and Title III programs to make pervasive 
advances in additive manufacturing and processing of carbon-carbon 
composites and carbon-silicon carbide composites.
    Question. The Space Force's number one legislative proposal this 
year is to establish a new space component comprised of Active Duty 
Space Force Guardians and space professionals from the Air Force 
Reserve. You are essentially creating a new personnel management 
structure.
    Why is the Space Force proposing to combine 1,400 Air Force 
Reservists into one component and one appropriations account with 
Active Duty Space Guardians, while excluding the 1,000 Air National 
Guard personnel also working on space missions?
    Answer. The Space Force's proposed military talent management 
approach would efficiently and effectively combine existing Regular and 
Air Force Reserve units, as well as people that support the space 
mission, into a new Space Component. The Space Component would also 
allow part-time Space Force service. This construct would ensure 
uninterrupted access to crucial operational surge capacity and combat 
depth, and serve as a valuable retention and recruiting tool for both 
existing and prospective military members.
    The DAF highly values the people and units in the Air National 
Guard who perform space related missions. If the DAF Space Component 
proposal is enacted, members of the Air National Guard may volunteer to 
transfer to the Space Component. The Administration strongly opposes 
establishing a separate Space National Guard (as stated in the 
Statement of Administration Policy for H.R. 7900, the National Defense 
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023). The DAF continues to review 
alternatives that are efficient, effective and appropriate for Air 
National Guard space units and personnel.
    Question. In fiscal year 2023, how many Air Force Reservists are 
you proposing to transfer to the new Space Component? What is the 
funding associated with this transfer?
    Answer. In fiscal year 2023, we are prepared to transfer a small 
cadre of personnel to the Space Component. This would include a few 
members of the Air Force Reserve who are space professionals, no more 
than 20 of approximately 1,400 total, and new accessions (i.e., 
enlisted recruits and USAFA/ROTC and OTS graduates). We have estimated 
that these transfers could be performed with currently programmed 
funding as a zero-balance transfer.
    Question. Did the Space Force examine establishing a separate Space 
Force Reserve and Space National Guard? Why weren't these alternatives 
selected?
    Answer. The DAF studied the role and organization of space assets 
in the reserve components and proposed a new structure that would 
combine AFR Space personnel with Regular Guardian personnel into one 
component that could offer full- and part-time service with seamless 
permeability. If the DAF Space Component proposal is enacted, members 
of the Air National Guard may volunteer to transfer to the Space 
Component. The Administration strongly opposes establishing a separate 
Space National Guard (as stated in the Statement of Administration 
Policy for H.R.7900, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 
year 2023). The Space Force's proposed military talent management 
approach would efficiently and effectively combine existing Regular and 
Air Force Reserve units, as well as people that support the space 
mission, into a new Space Component. The Space Component would also 
allow part-time Space Force service. This construct would ensure 
uninterrupted access to crucial operational surge capacity and combat 
depth, and serve as a valuable retention and recruiting tool for both 
existing and prospective military members.
    Question. We've all read the headlines about the national shortage 
of commercial pilots, and how this has led the airlines to cut flights 
ahead of the summer travel season. What resources are in the 
President's budget request to tackle this problem?
    Answer. As asked, the DAF has no equities to answer questions about 
how the President's budget tackles commercial pilot shortages.
    Question. The Air Force is requesting almost $600 million for the 
continued development of two hypersonic weapons in fiscal year 2023; 
however, test results have been mixed, calling future procurement plans 
into question. What can you tell us in this forum about the Air Force's 
hypersonic investments? What is the timeline for seeing an operational 
missile given some of the test failures we've seen? On the flip side, 
does this weekend's flight test success change your plans?
    Answer. The Air Force fully funded the completion of the Air-
launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) Research Development Technology & 
Evaluation budget. The program completed four Booster Test Flights 
(BTF) with the latest success of BTF-2B. The final BTF is scheduled in 
2022. The Air Force intends to demonstrate operational utility through 
four all-up-round (AUR) flight tests (AFTs) beginning in Nov 22. 2 AURs 
will be built for each test (1 primary, 1 spare) and the Air Force 
intends to field remaining residual test assets after completion of the 
ARRW rapid prototyping program to support the Early Operational 
Capability (EOC).
    Question. In fiscal year 2022, Congress added significant sums of 
money to improve our nation's test and training range infrastructure. 
This is critical to ensure that our investments in modern capabilities 
such as hypersonics, space, artificial intelligence and directed energy 
are properly tested and understood. What investments are in the Air 
Force's budget to increase our test range infrastructure? Are we taking 
full advantage of all available technologies?
    Answer. The Air Force is investing $109 million (fiscal year 2023) 
in Facilities, Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) of 
test infrastructure. The Air Force is also investing $65 million 
(fiscal year 2023) in modernization improvements across the test 
enterprise. In order to take full advantage of all available 
technologies, the Air Force is constructing the Joint Simulation 
Environment facilities at Edwards AFB and Nellis AFB as well as the 
Cyberspace Facility at Eglin; all are nearing completion. In addition 
to the fiscal year 2023 Air Force investments, the Office of the 
Secretary of Defense (OSD) Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) is 
constructing a $38 million hypersonic test facility at Arnold 
Engineering Development Complex (AEDC).
    Question. We've all read the headlines about the national shortage 
of commercial pilots, and how this has led the airlines to cut flights 
ahead of the summer travel season. How is the commercial pilot shortage 
impacting the Air Force's pilot recruiting and retention efforts?
    Answer. The airline industry's recovery from the unprecedented 
impacts of COVID-19 has had little impact on Air Force pilot 
recruitment. The over-arching airline recruiting model is to direct 
hire qualified pilots vice the Air Force's model of recruiting college 
graduates (Academy, ROTC etc.). The airline recruiting model has 
little, if any, impact on the Air Force's pilot recruiting effort. The 
Air Force continues to aggressively optimize production, offer Aviation 
Incentive Bonuses (legislatively capped), enhance quality of life and 
service, data mine causal relationships, and employ organizational 
behavior techniques to better understand and influence retention.
    Question. In fiscal year 2022, Congress added significant sums of 
money to improve our nation's test and training range infrastructure. 
This is critical to ensure that our investments in modern capabilities 
such as hypersonics, space, artificial intelligence and directed energy 
are properly tested and understood. What investments are in the Space 
Force's budget to increase our test range infrastructure? Are we taking 
full advantage of all available technologies?
    Answer. The Space Force is leveraging all available technologies to 
deliver a test and training infrastructure that provides space 
warfighters interconnected, scalable, and distributed physical and 
digital ranges for full-spectrum test and training to develop, 
validate, and sharpen joint warfighting solutions to prevail in 
conflict.
    The fiscal year 2023 budget request continues previous investments 
to develop foundational NSTTC capabilities. Specific investment areas 
directly tied to developing space test range infrastructure are as 
follows:

         PE 1206759SF: Major T&E Investment--Space R-1 Line #43*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY23 PB
                   Investment Categories                     Request  ($
                                                                in M)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test & Infrastructure Management...........................        $29.2
NSTTC--Orbital Infrastructure..............................        $32.3
NSTTC--Digital Infrastructure..............................         $9.5
NSTTC--Cyber Infrastructure................................         $1.4
Workforce Professional Development & Integrated Test.......        $14.1
TOTAL*.....................................................        $86.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Note: FY23 PB request amount is $89.751M; the adjusted amount of $86.5M
  is due to the Title 15 SBIR/STTR adjustment


 PE 1206116SF: Space Test and Training Range Development--Space R-1 Line
                                   #39
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY23 PB
                   Investment Categories                     Request  ($
                                                                in M)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NSTTC--Electromagnetic Infrastructure......................        $21.4
TOTAL......................................................        $21.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Question. We currently have two companies that launch satellites 
for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. With space 
becoming more commercialized and the Department's own transition to 
proliferated low-earth-orbit constellations, more vendors are entering 
the launch market. As the Space Force begins to look at the competition 
for the next national security space launch agreement, what are your 
impressions of the launch industrial base, and how do you plan to 
introduce and maintain additional competition?
    Answer. Our launch strategy is focused on assured access to space, 
driving competition, and ending use of the Russian RD-180 engine. The 
U.S. space launch industrial base is the envy of the world. The 
Department leverages multiple launch providers across the spectrum of 
launch from small to large payloads and from low- to high-energy 
missions. The National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 acquisition 
was a full and open competition that enabled the department to leverage 
industry's most innovative technology and select providers capable of 
meeting our most difficult mission requirements. Additionally, on the 
small launch side, the Space Force has 11 companies on contract to 
launch other DoD payloads. NSSL's next acquisition (Phase 3) will 
continue leveraging the nation's robust domestic space launch 
industrial base, aims to reduce the cost of launch, continue to harness 
innovations such as reusable rockets, leverage new capabilities, and 
continue to provide a 100 percent mission success rate. We are 
currently working market research and acquisition strategy development 
to maximize competition.
                                 ______
                                 
              Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick Leahy
Adaptive Engines
    Question. For many years, and through many budget reviews, I have 
asked and received enthusiastic answers about the Adaptive Engine 
Transition Program. At a hearing like this, former chief of staff 
General Mark Welsh said an engine that can adapt its internal structure 
to maximize performance was a ``game changer,'' an assessment that has 
persisted.
    How is the development of a next generation adaptive engine 
supported in this budget?
    Do you anticipate moving to an Engineering and Manufacturing Design 
phase in the fiscal year 2024 request?
    The Next Generation Aircraft Propulsion program is funded in the 
same line as the adaptive engine. Are you seeking an adaptive solution 
for that program, and if additional funding is made available, how 
would it be spent?
    Answer. The fiscal year 2023 PB requests funds for both the 
Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) and Next Generation Adaptive 
Propulsion (NGAP) program. AETP requested funds will continue prototype 
engine assessments, addressing known design improvements, implementing 
engine weight reduction initiatives, development of engine controls and 
accessories (Full Authority Digital Engine Control--FADEC) and aircraft 
integration. NGAP requested funds will continue engine design 
activities, specifically the first phase of detailed design of 
potential adaptive cycle engines for future air dominance platforms.
    While on-going test and evaluation of the AETP adaptive cycle 
engine prototypes is substantiating the technology's significant gains 
in fuel efficiency, thrust, and thermal management capacity, as well as 
a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; the on-going F-35 
Joint Program Office Business Case Analysis and the companion DAF 
Operational Analysis will address questions regarding life cycle costs 
and affordability of equipping F 35A with an adaptive engine. The 
results from these analyses will inform decisions on an Engineering and 
Manufacturing Design program in fiscal year 2024.
    With regards to additional funding for the NGAP program, the Air 
Force is requesting congressional support for the three technical 
adjustments to the fiscal year 2023 PB request that did not make the 
cut off for inclusion in the budget exhibits before the committees. 
These adjustments will enable the Advanced Engine Portfolio to maintain 
funding expenditures within accepted standards for funding execution. 
Additional details regarding these technical adjustments have been 
provided to Professional Staff Members of the SAC-D, HAC-D, SASC, and 
HASC, and are available to Committee Members, as well.
AFWERX and eVTOLs
    Question. The Agility Prime program run by AFWERX has made 
significant advancements for electric vertical take-off and landing 
aircraft and technology since its inception, stimulating establishment 
of a nascent domestic industrial base and leveraging private sector 
investment. To be truly successful, though, AFWERX still faces the 
challenge of how to transition these programs to either a Department of 
Defense acquisition program, or ensure a substantial enough commercial 
demand that the United States will not lose these industries if there 
is no military acquisition.
    How does the Air Force acquisition system plan to evaluate AFWERX 
technology like eVTOLs to determine if a program of record for 
acquisition should be established?
    How would other service acquisition systems make the same 
evaluations?
    How would AFWERX determine a sustainable industrial base has been 
established in the United States?
    Answer. Through the AFWERX Agility Prime program, the DAF aims to 
align emerging dual-use commercial technology solutions with DAF 
operational capability requirements. Agility Prime has fostered strong 
relationships with the Joint Force, sharing data, contract vehicles, 
and use-case development. The Army and Marine Corps have each provided 
funding for specific experimentation needs and utilized airworthiness 
data for their own flight testing. The relationships and data sharing 
facilitate collaboration across similar operational requirements and 
technology development, enabling other service acquisition systems to 
make their own program of record evaluations without duplication of 
initial efforts. The Department of the Air Force looks forward to 
continued Joint collaboration on key dual-use emerging technology 
areas.
Optimizing the Human Weapons System
    Question. In your testimony, you stated that prioritizing service 
members' experiences in the Air Force in order to retain personnel is 
an important goal for the next year, and I agree it should be. In 
Vermont, our Air National Guard pilots have been using the Optimizing 
Human Weapon System program to engage in conditioning rehabilitative 
training that helps them stay healthy and continue flying. 
Unfortunately, the program was discontinued for the Air National Guard 
in the fiscal year 2023 President's budget request.
    How has this program helped prepare pilots in the Air Force and Air 
National Guard prepare for flight and keep healthy after the stresses 
of flight?
    What is the estimated effect of the program on pilot mission 
availability?
    What is the estimated cost savings, if there are any, of pilots 
utilizing the program?
    Answer. OHWS is a comprehensive program to decrease neck and back 
injuries and prevent fighter aircrew from ``going DNIF'' (being placed 
in a status of duty not including flying).
    The program includes physical therapists and strength conditioning 
experts to build a program for each pilot. There were no ``formal'' 
metrics collected on this program. However,pilots are t estifying that 
the program was working, keeping them in the cockpit. Reports state 
that many pilots would be cancelling sorties due to neck and back pain, 
after working with the OHWS team, they are able to remain flying. The 
survey completed in 2020 far exceeded the Air Force Survey typical 
results for responses (25 percent average, 33 percent for this survey) 
which highlights the importance the program is to fighter aircrew.
    Additionally, OHWS decreases the number of pilots going DNIF for 
neck and back G-related issues as well as increasing the overall 
mission performance. 91 percent of pilots experience neck pain and 77 
percent experience back pain. We do not have data to establish 
quantitatively the long term effects of the program but almost all 
fighter aircrew have neck and back issues related to the rigors of 
flying high performance fighter aircraft. ANG pilots specifically are 
more apt to use the program as the average age is higher than their 
Active Duty counterparts.
    Finally, we do not have a formal estimate of cost savings. We do 
know that OHWS has proven important to keep Fighter Pilots in the 
cockpit. Long term DNIF's require expensive post injury treatment and 
increased workload on other members of the unit. OHWS has also proven 
to be an important factor on continuing to serve. Quality of life is 
greatly improved when not having to work through painful neck and back 
pain. Neck and back pain are a contributing factor to pilots leaving 
the ANG which increases the need to train more pilots, thus increasing 
costs. Long term VA disability costs have not been studied, however 
most Fighter Pilots receive VA benefits post retirement due to the neck 
and back injuries caused from flying fighter aircraft.
F-35 Data Collection
    Question. The Vermont Air National Guard is deployed today in 
Eastern Europe, providing support to NATO allies that are nervous about 
the combative and irrational actions of Vladimir Putin. I have long 
supported NATO as a stabilizing force in Europe, and if President Putin 
believed he would shake the alliance with his further assault on 
Ukraine, he sorely miscalculated. This is the first deployment for the 
Vermont Air National Guard since their transition to flying the F-35A, 
and in a tense environment, I am glad each of them can be flying the 
most advanced fighter. You have mentioned to me the value of the F-35's 
data collection. Can you elaborate to the degree appropriate on how F-
35s like those flown by Vermonters are helping us learn and be better 
prepared to deter threats?
    Answer. The DAF is working jointly with our sister Services, 
allies, and partners to collect available data for analysis. Any 
detailed discussion would have to take place in a classified setting.
                                 ______
                                 
              Questions Submitted by Senator Patty Murray
    Question. Washington State is going through a military housing 
crisis. In December 2021 a Housing Requirement and Market Analysis 
study was requested for Fairchild and the Spokane region which is a key 
step to addressing the inadequate housing and long wait times for 
military families.
    When will the Air Force begin the Housing Requirement and Market 
Analysis?
    Answer. The Fairchild HRMA contract will be awarded late fiscal 
year 2022 and begin in fiscal year 2023. The HRMA will take 
approximately 9 months to complete and the DAF anticipates completion 
in late fiscal year 2023.
    Question. How quickly can the assessment turn into action and 
improvements to ensure more housing is available for military families 
at Fairchild Air Force Base?
    Answer. HRMA results will be shared with the local community to 
work with developers to expand housing since DoD policy is to rely on 
the off-base market first. The most effective and proactive solution is 
to encourage more developers to build housing in the local community.
    Question. Have any private housing companies impeded the HRMA 
process at Fairchild and is there any expectation that the Air Force 
will receive anything less than full support and compliance from 
private housing companies in implementing any necessary steps resulting 
from the HRMA?
    Answer. No; project owners have not impeded the process and are 
supportive of the HRMA process.
    Question. While improving access to mental healthcare continues to 
be an important priority for the Department of the Air Force, some of 
the Department's policies have been criticized as punishing those who 
seek mental health treatment. The Fortify the Force Initiative Team was 
recently created to study the different types of barriers to mental 
health found in the Department's policies and culture. Please provide 
an update on the progress of the Fortify the Force Initiative Team and 
any other steps the Department is taking to review and update policies 
that discourage servicemembers from seeking mental healthcare.
    Answer. The Fortify the Force Initiative Team (FFIT) was 
established at the annual Department of the Air Force's (DAF) meeting 
of its most senior leaders, CORONA Fall 2021. Chief Master Sergeant of 
the Air Force (CMSAF) Bass and Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force 
(CMSSF) Towberman proposed FFIT's establishment and serve as its co-
champions. Their vision is to improve resilience and readiness across 
the Air and Space Force through a grassroots initiative that will 
identify, analyze, and propose strategies the Department of the Air 
Force can use to remove barriers to resilience and promote holistic 
wellness for all Airmen, Guardians, and their families. FFIT is not a 
program, but a team of teams made up of volunteers inclusive of a broad 
range of ranks, functional communities, and affiliations to include 
civilians, retirees, and family members. This low cost volunteer effort 
leverages the diverse perspectives and experiences of passionate human 
beings committed to a single cause--eliminating barriers to holistic 
and comprehensive fitness.
    While still nascent, the FFIT already includes 326 active members 
and an additional 400 volunteers waiting for team assignments. They 
currently have eight initiative teams and eight focus groups. These 
teams are conducting barrier analysis and have 87 action items in 
various stages of development. They've created a social media presence 
and held their inaugural FFIT symposium in May 2022 which connected 
Guardians and Airmen from around the globe. As the teams complete their 
analysis, they will present recommendations to the CMSAF and CMSSF who 
will, in turn, find the appropriate offices on the DAF staff to 
implement solutions. We are just getting started, but the excitement is 
genuine and we believe allowing this direct access to senior leaders 
not only gets ideas implemented faster, but additionally sends a strong 
message to all we are listening and our senior leaders are committed to 
eliminating resilience barriers of all kinds, including ending 
interpersonal and self-inflicted violence.
    Question. Years ago the 141st Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild was 
converted to a classic association. Despite being fully complemented 
with pilots, maintainers, and all the other personnel to be a fully 
functioning tanker wing, no aircraft are assigned to the 141st ARW, and 
they are forced to borrow KC-135s from the active duty component, an 
arrangement that unnecessarily stresses both units.
    As KC-46s are fielded, replacing KC-135s, what are the Air Force's 
views on the feasibility and advisability of transferring up to 12 KC-
135s to the 141st?
    Please address the potential increase in capacity and any increases 
in cost.
    Answer. While the KC-135 will remain the backbone of the tanker 
fleet for years to come, transferring KC-135s retiring from MacDill AFB 
to Fairchild ANGB is not feasible. The Air Force is looking to retire 
legacy aircraft on a 1-for-1 basis as KC-46As are delivered. This 1-
for-delivery/retirement rate is critical to ensure a seamless 
transition and transfer maintenance and support personnel from one 
platform to the next.
    Question. The role of commercial satellite companies in the war in 
Ukraine has been revolutionary. Providing rapidly available imagery has 
kept the world informed, and ensuring available satellite 
communications has helped Ukraine maintain its command on the 
battlefield. What does the growing role of commercial companies in 
providing space-based services to the military mean for them as 
potential targets in a future war or gray-zone conflict?
    Answer. Commercial space companies are targets today, with 
increasing risks in the future. Potential targets include the 
commercial services provided to non-defense sectors (energy, 
agriculture, finance), as well as commercial services directly 
supporting the military.
    Cyberattacks against ViaSat's commercial satellite broadband in 
Ukraine forced tens of thousands of civilian customers off their 
service, disrupted gigawatts of German wind power production, hampered 
Ukrainian military command and control, and forced ViaSat to replace 
tens of thousands of damaged civilian broadband modems. Space-X is now 
providing satellite broadband in Ukraine and directing its corporate 
resources to counter jamming attacks. The U.S. commercial space 
industry is aware of these risks and many U.S. companies are 
participating, along with DoD in the Space Systems Critical 
Infrastructure Working Group convened by the Department of Homeland 
Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, desire 
continued movement towards internationally recognized norms of behavior 
in space.
                                 ______
                                 
              Questions Submitted by Senator Tammy Baldwin
    Question. Upper Stage Engine Technology. Secretary Kendall, 
Congress has invested significantly in upper stage engine technology, 
adding nearly $70 million from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2022.
    How are the Air Force and Space Force, particularly the Air Force 
Research Laboratory, supporting, further resourcing, leveraging, and 
on-ramping the outputs from these investments?
    What is the Air Force and Space Force strategy to transition 
advanced stage two engine technologies into our national space launch 
efforts?
    Answer. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has supported the 
development of the Vortex rocket for many years, starting in the early 
2000s when it was introduced by Orbital Technologies Corporation (since 
acquired by Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC)). Since 2018, AFRL has been 
providing technical oversight to the current application of Vortex and 
other technologies (including additive manufacturing) into SNC VR-35K 
upper stage engine helping to ensure its progress to successful 
component integration and engine demonstration. Thus far, the $70 
million investment has resulted in the completion of the VR35K engine 
design, the manufacture of key risk reduction engine components, and 
testing of key pre-prototype engine components.
    The Space Force is also executing four RDT&E other transactions 
authorities (OTAs) awarded to SpaceX, ULA, Rocket Lab, and Blue Origin 
worth a combined $88 million. Issued through the Space Enterprise 
Consortium, these investments in next-generation rocket capabilities 
are intended to expand launch capabilities through rocket engine 
testing and upper stage resiliency enhancements:
  --SpaceX's Raptor engine prototype will make future operations safer 
        and more reliable. This prototype project will also provide the 
        liquid methane rocket engine community with fuel impurity 
        impacts and continue development of a combustion stability tool 
        for the industry.
  --ULA's Uplink C2 prototype will enable key mission parameter updates 
        to the second stage of the Vulcan launch vehicle after launch, 
        delivering more flexibility for future launches.
  --Rocket Lab's S2 prototype project will develop a new second stage 
        for the Neutron launch vehicle, potentially providing 
        additional launch acquisition flexibility.
  --Blue Origin's Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) Demonstration 
        prototype will develop enhanced propellant management 
        capabilities enabling new and longer missions associated with 
        the New Glenn launch vehicle's second stage.
    We anticipate that these providers will propose these upper stage 
enhancements for future NSSL procurements. The USSF is engaging 
continuously with industry for their feedback and analyzing market 
conditions to help refine specific investment and acquisition 
strategies.
    Question. Space Force Unfunded Priority of $326 million for 
classified programs.
    General Raymond, please provide full justification for the Space 
Force's number one unfunded priority of $326 million for classified 
programs to the Committee members and staff under the appropriate 
classification.
    How does this priority increase flexibility and resiliency in the 
National Security Space force mix, increase Space Force support to the 
Joint Force, and help the United States stay ahead of emerging 
adversary capabilities?
    If funded in fiscal year 2023, will the Space Force commit to 
budgeting for the necessary follow-on funding in fiscal year 2024 and 
beyond?
    Answer. Yes; we are actively working to provide a briefing on this 
topic, with the appropriate details, to interested members and the 
Committee as soon as possible.
                                 ______
                                 
             Questions Submitted by Senator Lindsey Graham
    Question. Secretary Kendall, our nation's Air National Guard Fleet, 
which is composed of F- 15Cs, A-10s, or older F-16s, is currently being 
modernized with next generation fighters, such as the F-15EX and the F-
35. As our nation utilizes our reserve component in combination with 
the active component at an ever-increasing rate, how is the active 
component collaborating with the Air National Guard to prioritize 
modernization efforts like the procurement of F-35s for the Air 
National Guard? What are the metrics that the Air Force currently 
employs to determine basing decisions of next generation aircraft to 
individual Air National Guard squadrons?
    Answer. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Plans and 
Programs (AF/A8) is the lead for determining the mix of F-35s in the 
United States Air Force. Both AF/A8 and Air Combat Command (the lead 
Major Command for this effort) work closely with the National Guard 
Bureau when determining the appropriate force mix between the active 
duty, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve. The strategic 
basing process will utilize site survey criteria similar to previous 
rounds of Air National Guard F-35 basing. Previous criteria included 
Mission (weather and training infrastructure), Capacity (operations, 
logistics, and maintenance facilities, and ramp space), Environmental 
(air quality and encroachment), and Cost (one-time and recurring) 
categories.
    Question. Secretary Kendall, the Israeli Government has identified 
the need for an air-to-air refueling capability in order to conduct 
future air operations. The Israeli Air Force is seeking to purchase up 
to eight KC-46s in order to meet this need; however, these aircraft 
will not be delivered for some time. How is the Air Force working with 
the Israel Government to provide critical air-to-air refueling 
capabilities, such as the KC-46, for the Israeli Air Force? Is there 
another air-to-air refueling platform, other than the KC-46, that can 
be provided to the Israeli Air Force by the United States in the 
interim?
    Answer. The DAF shares your commitment to Israel's security, and 
the need for a refueling fleet to ensure it. We are engaged with the 
Boeing Company to complete contract negotiations for the commercial 
airframe pricing, which is a prerequisite for the Israeli-specific KC-
46 contract. Following KC-46 aircraft delivery through a Foreign 
Military Sales contract, which the Israeli Government signed for 2 KC-
46A aircraft in May 2019, and amended to 4 KC-46A in March 2021, Israel 
and Boeing will develop a Direct Commercial Sales contract to complete 
modification with Israeli-unique capabilities. In the interim, Israel 
will continue to fly its Boeing 707 refueling fleet.
                                 ______
                                 
                Questions Submitted by Senator Roy Blunt
Mid-Air Refueling.
    Question. Although TRANSCOM has indicated that it currently has 
``sufficient capacity to meet steady state and crisis response air 
refueling demands articulated by the Joint Staff and NDS,'' the Air 
Force and TRANSCOM have also previously stated that approximately 30 
thousand hours of aerial refueling missions are not being supported 
annually and that ``the air refueling fleet remains stressed.'' Many if 
not most of these unmet demands are critical training missions 
necessary to maintain readiness. The Joint Force has an insatiable 
appetite for air refueling and global demands will likely continue to 
put pressure on the air refueling mission. I understand that there have 
been conversations regarding possible uses for KC-10 aircraft prior to 
being fully retired and sent to the boneyard. I understand that one 
option is to provide the aircraft to industry, either through sale or 
as Government Furnished Equipment, for use in a commercial air 
refueling program and that the U.S. Air Force has been studying this 
for over 10 years. As this is a joint issue, can you please tell me 
what involvement and coordination from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 
OSD has there been, if any, on this issue?
    Answer. The DAF is prioritizing modernization of the air refueling 
fleet through continuous recapitalization of legacy tankers. In 
developing the tanker strategy for the fiscal year 2023 President's 
Budget request, the DAF coordinated extensively with the JCS, OSD, and 
USTRANSCOM staffs. To mitigate near term risk, as we draw down our 
tanker fleet to 455 total tankers, the DAF continues to coordinate with 
USTRANSCOM to provide the air refueling capacity required to meet 
current joint force demands with a combination of legacy aircraft and 
expanding KC-46 operational capability. We remain confident we will 
meet global air refueling demands to support the National Defense 
Strategy as we continue legacy tankers recapitalization.
    Question. I understand the Air Force's desire to retire a 
significant number of KC-10s and that this divestiture will free up KC-
10 aircrews and maintainers needed to field and operate the KC-46 as 
aircraft are delivered to the USAF. But that still will not address the 
approximate 30 thousand hours of annual unmet aerial refueling demands. 
TRANSCOM has stated that although it is able to ``manage the tension 
between available resources and requests'' for aerial refueling, ``the 
air refueling fleet remains stressed.'' Instead of divestiture to the 
boneyard, should the Air Force consider divesting these KC-10s to 
private sector commercial operators who could use them as part of a 
commercial outlet?
    Answer. At this time, the DAF is not considering transitioning KC-
10s to the private sector for the purpose of augmenting Air Refueling 
needs. However, the DAF initiated a commercial air refueling study that 
will determine the need and viability of this additive capability and 
is tentatively scheduled to complete by early fiscal year 2024. Should 
the study result in compelling advantages to pursue commercial air 
refueling capacity, the DAF will explore this option. In the interim, 
the DAF intends to continue divesting KC-10s to responsibly manage 
transitioning the aircrews, support personnel, and infrastructure to 
ensure seamless transition to KC-46A operations.
Adaptive Engine Technology.
    Question. How are you integrating this capability into your long-
term F-35 roadmap? Do you intend to capitalize on the significant 
taxpayer investment ($4 billion) that has been made to this point and 
transition this capability to our warfighter? What timing do you think 
is appropriate?
    Understanding the technology is still maturing do you think 
adaptive engine technology can reduce F-35 flight hour cost from $32k/
hr to something more manageable?
    Is there other technology the Air Force is investing in to lower 
flight hour costs?
    Answer. On-going test and evaluation of the Adaptive Engine 
Transition Program (AETP) adaptive cycle engine prototypes is 
substantiating the technology's significant gains in fuel efficiency, 
thrust, thermal management capacity, as well as significant reduction 
in greenhouse gas emissions. The on-going F-35 Joint Program Office 
Business Case Analysis and the companion DAF Operational Analysis will 
address questions regarding life cycle costs and affordability of 
equipping F 35A with an adaptive engine. These analyses account for the 
potential reductions in operations and sustainment due to the increase 
in fuel efficiency and full life durability. The results from these 
analyses will inform decisions on an Engineering and Manufacturing 
Design program in fiscal year 2024.
    Question. Regarding C-130J upgrades, how are you making 
prioritization decisions for fielding/stationing of C-130J and when 
will those decisions be made public?
    Answer. The DAF will utilize its strategic basing process to 
identify the Air National Guard locations to recapitalize with C-130J 
aircraft. This is a deliberate, repeatable, standardized, and 
transparent process that uses criteria-based analysis to link the 
mission requirements to attributes of DAF installations in order to 
identify the best location for the C-130J mission. The DAF seeks to 
process all basing expeditiously and will notify Congress at the 
appropriate time.
    Question. GPS and the Homeland. The GPS constellation is incredibly 
vulnerable. I know the military is working on several replacements or 
stop gaps but much of our economy uses GPS to function. What work have 
you done to ensure our economy can continue to function with as little 
interruption as possible in the event of an attack?
    Answer. The Space Force maintains a healthy but aging constellation 
of up to 31 satellites, with inherent robustness in large constellation 
size, altitude (11,550 miles), and distribution in six orbital planes. 
GPS III and GPS IIIF continue modernization efforts and provide new 
enhancements to the constellation for all users, as well as new 
civilian signals broadcast at a higher effective power level to improve 
robustness against interference. The distributed worldwide GPS C2 
system is inherently robust and resilient with geographically separate 
primary and alternate ground stations. The USSF has made significant 
investments in cyber defense improvements to the current ground C2 
system, while on the cusp of delivering next-generation ground systems. 
Military Code is the next generation downlink GPS signal which provides 
the same position, navigation, and timing (PNT) users expect, while 
enhancing protections of the signal against Jamming and Spoofing 
threats. In addition, Space Force continues to work with the other 
military services to assess over a dozen alternate PNT sources to 
provide more robust capabilities, while also integrating enhancements 
such independent, on-board clocks to ensure multiple back-up resources 
of PNT for military and economic functioning. Finally, in accordance 
with Space Policy Directive-7 (National Positioning, Navigation and 
Timing Policy), DoD is working with DoT, DoC, and Homeland Security for 
national and economic security through responsible use of PNT in 
critical infrastructure sectors.
    Question. Commercial Space Capabilities. The Ukraine conflict has 
demonstrated the value in our commercial space partners. Not only can 
we declassify the information faster but they have provided near 
constant real time intelligence to our ally. What is the Space Forces 
plan to accelerate our use of commercial space capabilities and how can 
we incentivize new space companies to base in the U.S.?
    Answer. The Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC) has 
established a Commercial Services Office (COMSO) to serve as a ``Front 
Door'' to the commercial space industry looking to do business with the 
government. This will allow industry to easily connect commercial 
innovation with government customers. By simplifying procedures and 
reducing the barriers to doing business with the government we hope to 
retain more commercial space innovation here in the United States.
    Question. Replacement of key space capabilities. Tactically 
responsive space launch (TRSL), which are staged, cube satellites 
launched quickly from a plane to low earth orbit is one solution I have 
heard discussed to rapidly rebuild capability. The Space Force's Space 
Safari Program plans to demonstrate the capability this year with the 
hope to accelerate the technology after. Pending the results of the 
test are we ready to quickly mass produce and utilize this capability? 
Do you see the Space force as the leader for TRSL or is the development 
of that technology best left to industry with key inputs and funding 
from the Space Force?
    Answer. Space Safari's next Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) 
mission, VICTUS NOX, will demonstrate the USSF's ability to rapidly 
acquire, integrate and launch a small satellite to Low Earth Orbit in 
CY23. VICTUS NOX will identify any required areas of improvement to 
ensure TacRS is a repeatable capability going forward, but the required 
technology and hardware production lines exist today. Due to the 
operationally-relevant nature of these efforts, the Space Force will 
partner with industry in development of TacRS.
                                 ______
                                 
               Questions Submitted by Senator Jerry Moran
    Question. When does the Air Force intend to make a final down-
select for the Armed Overwatch program?
    What key attributes must an Armed Overwatch aircraft have to be 
successful?
    When does the Air Force intend to field the first unit equipped 
with Armed Overwatch aircraft?
    What is the Air Force's plan to support the Armed Overwatch program 
beyond the initial procurement of 75 aircraft?
    Answer. The Armed Overwatch program is a USSOCOM effort independent 
of the Air Force's former Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance program. I 
defer to the Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and 
Logistics (SOF AT&L) as the acquisition executive for this USSOCOM 
effort.
    Question. The Air Force released an RFI last summer showing the 
service needs 140-160 non-developmental aerial refueling tankers to 
bridge the gap between the KC-46 program and a future KC-Z advanced 
tanker. You stated recently that a competition for KC-Y appears less 
likely, and that requirements for the program might not be that 
different from the original KC-X program. As a reminder, the 
requirements for KC-X were developed over 15-years ago--under very 
different operational demands that required primarily medium-range 
refueling capabilities.
    As the national defense strategy has changed, and the need for 
long-range refueling capability has grown, how does the Air Force 
expect to meet these range and fuel offload requirements if we cancel 
the KC-Y competition and realistically acknowledge that we won't have a 
KC-Z tanker for another 20+-years from now?
    Can you give us more of your thinking here--and are your recent 
comments really driven by a lack of requirements or a lack of budget 
(and how can the Committee be helpful)?
    Answer. The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is aggressively 
modernizing the force to meet critical National Defense Strategy (NDS) 
demands and prepare for the future high-end fight. With congressional 
support, we will continue prioritizing uninterrupted legacy tanker 
recapitalization with plans to deliver the first KC-Y aircraft 
immediately following the last KC-46A delivery in fiscal year 2029. 
Finalized requirements will determine the KC-Y acquisition strategy and 
we currently believe a commercially-derived aircraft is the quickest 
and most cost-efficient way the DAF can field new tankers to replace a 
large portion of already 60+ year-old KC-135 fleet in the near term. 
Once KC-Y requirements are finalized and we determine our acquisition 
strategy, we look forward to partnering with the Congress to ensure we 
have a shared understanding of our tanker modernization plans.
    Question. Thanks to private sector investment, the United States 
likely leads China in one area of hypersonics--high-speed aircraft. 
What can the Air Force do to ensure America cements its advantage in 
this dual-use capability?
    Answer. The DAF is encouraged by the opportunities in the 
commercial sector. DAF access has been enabled by the SBIR Open topic, 
the AFWERX STRATFI program, and the AFWERX Prime concept. Future 
ability for the DAF to maintain a global competitive advantage in 
emerging technologies like this is predicated on the continuation and 
scaling of the Department's technology transition programs.
    Question. The Space Force now has a seat on the Joint Chiefs, which 
is critical given space power is a foundational support to the entire 
Joint Force. However, China and Russia continue to advance their 
technology and capabilities in space that degrades the U.S.'s ability 
to support our Joint Force Team. These advancing threats will 
significantly impact our way of life, how we deter conflict, and how we 
project force as a Nation. Given current policy restrictions, what is 
the Space Force doing to develop flexible, responsive, reusable, and 
multi-domain systems that can meet current and projected threats that 
seek to deny our advantage in space?
    Answer. The Space Force has begun the pivot to transforming to 
resilient architectures for missile warning and space communication 
constellations. We are working closely with the intelligence community 
to ensure our joint operational and intelligence needs are being met. 
There are no policy restrictions that inhibit these programs. We are 
participating in the OSD and ODNI-led Space Strategic Review where we 
will help define additional programs and policies.
    Question. The Space Force's number one unfunded priority is $326 
million for classified programs. In the appropriate setting, can you 
please share with the Committee additional specific details on this 
request and the urgent capabilities that this funding would provide?
    Answer. Yes; we are actively working to provide a briefing on this 
topic, with the appropriate details, to interested members and the 
Committee as soon as possible.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Tester. This Defense Subcommittee will reconvene on 
Thursday, May 26, at 10 a.m. to hear from the Navy and the 
Marine Corps leadership on the fiscal year 2023 budget request 
for the Department of the Navy, and with that we stand in 
recess.
    Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 11:21 a.m., Tuesday, May 17, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Thursday, 
May 26.]