Angus King Decries 'Totally Inadequate' Allocation Of Defense Spending For Space Force

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) spoke about the allocation of defense spending for the Space Force.

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00:00in our refueling in the near term? Well, actually, I was talking about the survivability. So more

00:05more more tails in the air, right? So ensuring that we continue the recapitalization of the

00:10KC-135 fleet into the future. And then really, Chairman, we can talk about this in another

00:15session, but making sure that as they get into a more and more contested environment,

00:19they do those things that air refueling does so well, which allows our combat capability to have

00:24the loitering time and all the time to be able to spend more time prosecuting targets.

00:28We need to make sure that those air refuelers that we have can stay in the air and can maintain

00:33more survivability. So it's not only just the modernization of it, but also looking to make

00:38it more survivable. Thank you, General. And thank you, Senator Cotton. Senator King.

00:42Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to follow up on that very question.

00:46One way to help on the tanker capacity is KC-46s at Bangor, affectionately known as the Maniacs.

00:54As you know, they provided enormous support during the Gulf War and anything on the east side of the

01:03United States in terms of Europe, the Middle East. It's going to be an incredibly important

01:07capacity. So they're doing fantastically with their present fleet, but the KC-46s is the next

01:13generation. And as you pointed out yourself, tankers are the heart and soul of being able to

01:21keep our forces over the target. So I hope that's something on your agenda.

01:26Absolutely, Senator. And sort of the Maniacs were on the, they're on the list as part of one of the

01:31candidate locations. And the final location, preferred location will happen in the fourth quarter of this

01:35year. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. And Mr. Chairman, I think we could save a lot of money on

01:41the, on the F-47 because Secretary Mink is the only Secretary of the Air Force I know of who's ever

01:47designed, built, and flown his own experimental aircraft. So we could just have him do the,

01:52the F-47 himself, right? Secretary Mink?

01:56Is that the form of a motion?

01:59I don't think my garage has the infrastructure to build a 46, but.

02:02Thank you. General Alvin, I am concerned about availability and, and mission availability.

02:11You mentioned a couple of figures, 50%, 62%. The commercial air fleet is in the high 90s.

02:18Now, granted, there are more complicated systems for, in the military, but I believe, and this applies

02:25to the Navy as well, that we really don't put enough emphasis on maintenance and availability.

02:30We're talking about very expensive products here, very expensive aircraft, and if we had

02:35more of them ready to fly, we perhaps wouldn't have to buy as many new ones. So I hope that

02:40could, I, I, I see that as a, closing that gap between 62% and 98%, which is the commercial

02:47availability rate, would go a long way toward helping us with our budget and also helping

02:52us with our readiness.

02:54Well, Senator, thank you for that. I, I would say that one of the big challenges is that the

02:59airlines have a profit model. They have a different business model. And so as they look at that,

03:03they, they generate their value.

03:05Yeah, the difference is they have to meet a, they have to meet a, a, a, a, a profit

03:10realization rate, and we don't. The military doesn't. And I think, I'm just saying, surely

03:18we can get beyond 62%.

03:21I, I do believe, Senator, we, we do need to improve. I think one of the big challenges,

03:24though, is what I was trying to drive at is the KC-135 is the average one. Is it old,

03:28is as old as me and I'm no spring chicken. And so the airlines, they just throw theirs

03:32out after a certain run, because it becomes cost ineffective for them to maintain older

03:35platforms that it can still have the enough seats, passenger seats to maintain a profit.

03:40So they'll dump those off to the side.

03:42I understand that. But do you believe that we can do better than 62%?

03:45I, I, I do believe we can do better. And I think it becomes more challenging the older

03:49the aircraft get, because we're discovering new things all the time because they're breaking

03:52in new and different ways. Yes, Senator, we can, we can continue to do better. We put more

03:56money against it every year. Unfortunately, for the past few years, despite the increased

04:01money that we put into weapons system sustainment, because the increase of age, it takes more

04:05man hours and more mechanical hours. We aren't getting that much of an increase because we're

04:10spending more time trying to fix those. And so, but that is a challenge. We're constantly

04:14working. We do need to improve.

04:17General Salzman, you've been very diplomatic today, but if we were starting with a blank sheet

04:21of paper in terms of the threats that we're facing, particularly the militarization of

04:25space by both the Russians and the Chinese, 3% of the defense budget for the Space Force

04:32is totally inadequate. And I, I, I hope you can comment on that, agree, understanding that

04:40you're under the subject of the defense budget and all those kinds of things. But, uh, and,

04:45as far as I'm concerned, uh, we need to vastly, significantly increase, uh, the defense, the

04:52availability of funds to the Space Force, given the magnitude of the mission that, to which

04:57you've been assigned.

04:59I, I agree, Senator. The, the last three years of funding has not allowed me to go as quickly

05:03as possible, putting counter space capabilities together that address the targets that I'm being

05:08asked to address by U.S. Space Command, uh, amongst other combatant commanders.

05:13One of the ways I like to think about these things is if you were starting with a blank

05:16sheet of paper for allocation of, of defense funds today, I don't think there's any question

05:23that the Space Force would get substantially more resources given the, uh, development of

05:29the threat, which is the first, the first hours or days of any conflict with a major adversary

05:35are going to take place in space. And as you mentioned, and as Senator Fisher mentioned,

05:40uh, sensors, GPS, everything, uh, is going to depend on our ability to defend that domain.

05:46So I, I certainly hope to work with members of the committee, uh, to see that you have

05:51the resources adequate, uh, to meet the challenges that you've been asked to, to, uh, to meet.

05:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:58Thank you, Senator King.

06:01Senator Rounds.

06:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:03First, let me just say thank you to all three of you for your service to our country.

06:06Uh, Secretary Mink.

06:08Uh.

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