[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20006-20007]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             JOINT SURVEILLANCE TARGET ATTACK RADAR SYSTEM

  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I have spoken at length about how our debt 
crisis and our global crisis are interconnected. Before I speak today, 
though, I want to thank the Senator from Texas for his leadership this 
year, as we did get the Senate back to regular order. I know we have 
much to do, but I appreciate his leadership as whip and as a fellow 
colleague. Thank you.
  Today I rise to speak about how this overlap between our debt crisis 
and our global security crisis impacts the future of a vital Air Force 
asset: the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS, as 
they call it. I visited with Team JSTARS to hear about their critical 
role. We made a visit. We talked about how their role affects our 
national security and our national defense and countering the global 
security crisis we face. I have also seen in Iraq and Afghanistan 
firsthand how this platform is absolutely vital to protect our forces 
on the ground in harm's way.
  The global security crisis facing our Nation continues to grow. 
First, we face our traditional rivals--China and Russia--as they become 
ever more aggressive. The persistent threat of nuclear proliferation is 
now exaggerated and increasing every day with Iran's efforts and, of 
course, we see what is going on in North Korea as well. Finally, we 
face threats from radical jihadist terror groups, not just in the 
Middle East but here at home, unfortunately--and not just from ISIS. 
AQAP, Boko Haram, and al-Shabaab, to mention a few, are all thinking 
about how to do harm here in our homeland.
  As a result, we know that the need for American leadership in the 
world isn't going to go away any time soon. Team JSTARS plays a 
critical role in our response to these threats. JSTARS is an Air Force 
platform that provides critical intelligence, surveillance, and 
reconnaissance, or ISR, and ground targeting capabilities in service to 
all branches of our military. Over the past 25 years, they have flown 
over 125,000 combat hours in 5 different combatant commands. As a 
matter of fact, they have flown every day since 9/11.
  The ``J'' in JSTARS stands for ``joint.'' Team JSTARS is a blended 
unit. The Air Force, Army, and National Guardsmen who work on the team, 
eat, sleep, and deploy together. These men and women leave for days, 
weeks, and sometimes they deploy for months to protect our men in 
uniform around the world. Not only are they a joint mission with the 
Army, but JSTARS also does several mission sets. JSTARS does command 
and control as well as providing intelligence, surveillance, and 
reconnaissance. From stakeout to shoot-out, JSTARS is capable of 
supporting all missions in all phases, with full spectrum capability 
from low to high intensity conflict.
  In the words of General Kelly, SOUTHCOM's commander, JSTARS is quite 
unique, ``a true force-multiplier, working seamlessly with both the DOD 
and interagency assets, generating impressive results in our asset-
austere environment.'' What makes JSTARS unique from other 
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms is that on 
each JSTARS plane, we have unique manpower at the tactical edge to talk 
to our servicemembers on the ground with 22 radios, 7 data links, 3 
Internets, and a secure telephone system. These are things we cannot 
take for granted. Our men and women on the ground talk about this 
incessantly.
  As I saw it in Iraq and Afghanistan, we could not fulfill our mission 
without this type of capability in the air, overseeing our men and 
women every day. As we see threats around us from an increasingly 
aggressive Russia and China, the threat of electronic warfare is also a 
growing concern. If satellite communication radios are targeted--if 
these systems are degraded by the enemy in any way--JSTARS can in turn 
provide the same critical capability in theater. This is a redundant 
capability we cannot do without. This platform has proven itself to be 
invaluable and indispensable to our Armed Forces--not just in the Air 
Force and Army but in every service--the Marines, the Navy, the Coast 
Guard, and even in some counter-drug missions.
  In the Pacific, JSTARS has been a key part of the Asia rebalance, 
helping to maintain stability and assure allies by providing vital 
insight to maritime forces as they push back against an expansive 
China. In fact, as China continues to challenge freedom of navigation 
and asserts itself in the Asia-Pacific region, PACOM is asking for more 
and more JSTARS presence at a very time when their capability is 
declining.
  Also in Asia, U.S. Forces Korea commander General Scaparrotti calls 
JSTARS ``very important to us'' as he deters an unpredictable North 
Korea. Here in this atmosphere, JSTARS has flown in support of homeland 
defense, doing drug interdiction missions.
  General John Kelly, the SOUTHCOM commander, said: ``JSTARS is 
especially important, providing a detailed maritime surveillance 
capability that is unsurpassed.''
  To give you a comparison, a single JSTARS sortie--a single plane--can 
cover the same search area as 10 maritime patrol aircraft sorties. But 
the future of this platform is in jeopardy. As threats against our 
Nation have evolved, JSTARS has too. But there are only 16 of these 
planes covering our needs worldwide over the last 25 years. We have 
relied on JSTARS for 25 years to protect our men and women whom we put 
in harm's way--to protect them while other people are trying to do them 
harm.
  Unfortunately, in the last 25 years, these planes are beginning to 
wear out. They are reaching the end of their service life. These planes 
have been in service since the early 90s. But even then, these planes 
weren't new when the Air Force acquired them. Each plane on average had 
over 50,000 hours when we bought them. The average age of the fleet is 
47 years.
  If you look at just one example in the JSTARS fleet, there is one 
aircraft that had 16 different owners or lessors over that time before 
it became a JSTARS, including Pakistani International Airlines and 
Afghan Airlines. I think it is very ironic that today that very plane 
flies oversight missions over those two countries.
  As these planes near the end of their service life, they are spending 
more and more time in depot maintenance. More maintains is more costly. 
Dramatically increased maintenance time is threatening aircraft 
availability and mission readiness. This in turn impacts the number of 
JSTARS that can be put into mission at any one time and be out in the 
combatant commands while doing their job, while day by day the demand 
from combatant commanders for JSTARS grows.
  What is more concerning is that as JSTARS near the end of their 
service life, as you can see on this chart, there is a gap. If we do 
nothing, we will have a gap of 10 years. The best we could do starting 
today is to shorten that gap to 4 years. This is a gap we cannot allow 
to happen.
  This chart shows the declining availability of the current fleet down 
to zero by 2023. It also shows that under the current plan--pending DOD 
approval and funding--the replacement fleet does not even come online 
until 2023, meaning we will have a 10-year gap. They don't get back to 
full strength until around 2027--again, the 10-year gap. Due to the 
increased maintenance requirements of this aging fleet, JSTARS is 
already at a point where we only have about half the fleet available to 
fly at any point in time. Even if we extend the service life of JSTARS 
and accelerate the replacement, we can only narrow the gap to 4 years. 
This is unacceptable.
  I have talked about the planes. Let me talk about the men and women 
who man those planes, who service those planes, who keep those planes 
in the air. These are talented professionals. I

[[Page 20007]]

have met with them. They are dedicated professionals, protecting our 
soldiers on the ground. They are committed to this mission, but they 
have to have our help. The men and women on the ground in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, and around the world deserve our help. But when it happens 
to have a gap like this, our irresponsibility as a Congress and as 
military leadership shows up.
  We cannot allow this to happen. Recapitalization for the JSTARS fleet 
needs to happen, and it needs to happen right now. As these aircraft 
age, depot maintenance is not only more costly but also keeps these 
aircraft, which are in high demand for every combatant commander, from 
fulfilling their mission fully and putting our soldiers on the ground 
in mortal danger. This is precisely where we see the debt crisis and 
global security crisis intersect.
  In the last 6 years, I have spoken about this before, but we borrowed 
40 percent of what we have spent as a Federal Government. This puts our 
ability to support a strong foreign policy backed up by a strong 
military in jeopardy. As Admiral Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, once said, the greatest threat to our national 
security is our own national debt.
  The JSTARS Program is an example of how our debt crisis is impacting 
our ability to fulfill our mission requirements. JSTARS 
recapitalization, which would replace these planes over time, is the 
No. 4 priority within the Air Force. The other three priorities ahead 
of it are very valid, but very expensive platforms.
  Just last month, the Air Force acquisition chief, Assistant Secretary 
LaPlante, said that the JSTARS recap might get scrapped thanks to 
sequester and tight budget constraints. Again, this is a result of our 
fiscal intransigence and poor planning by military leaders. This 
prohibits us from meeting the very basic needs of our men and women on 
the ground who depend on this critical platform to protect them and 
provide overarching eyes and ears in the battle space. This should not 
have happened. The intransigence of Congress over the last decade and 
the intransigence of our military leadership and procurement planning 
are all at fault. We can fix this.
  This week I am joining Senator Isakson and at least 11 other Senators 
in writing to Secretary of Defense Carter about the importance of 
funding for the next fleet of JSTARS in next year's budget request.
  I wish to thank the defense appropriators as well as the Armed 
Services Committee for their support for this critical platform and 
mission. I look forward to continuing to work with them to support 
JSTARS. Not only do we need to ensure the new JSTARS fleet is funded, 
but this needs to be done fast. As I said, if we do nothing today, we 
have at best a 4-year gap, not to mention the problem with the planes. 
What do we do with these professional military men and women who are 
irreplaceable--pilots, navigators, engineers, technicians, mechanics, 
schedulers, and computer experts. This is a capability we cannot do 
without.
  Not only do we need to ensure that the new JSTARS fleet is funded, 
but again this has to happen immediately if we are going to manage this 
gap. This gap in capability that we see on this chart will become a 
reality if the pace of recap doesn't change. We need a faster solution. 
This chart shows why this recap needs to be a rapid acquisition program 
and we need to get on that immediately.
  We need to ensure that this critical platform stays in theater. Our 
combative commanders demand it, our troops on the ground depend on it, 
and they certainly deserve it. We cannot allow Washington's dysfunction 
to put our men and women in combat theaters in further danger. This 
needs to get fixed, and it needs to get fixed right now.
  I yield my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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