During a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned General B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations at the USSF, about coordination between the military services.
00:00The Army just released its transition initiative to prepare for future threats and budgets.
00:06This is for all three of you if you wanted time just to answer it.
00:09It's a kind of three-part question.
00:11Does this have any impact on your organization?
00:15Do you anticipate similar initiatives in your organization?
00:18And when and what will they look like?
00:20General Saltzman?
00:22Yes, sir.
00:23There's some connections.
00:24I've actually been charged by Congress to be the force design architect for space for the Armed Forces.
00:30And so as the Army goes through its transformation to figure out exactly how it will use space capabilities to protect its organic maneuver forces,
00:36we'll be connected to that as well to make sure we're sharing technology.
00:39We're not being redundant where we don't need to be.
00:41So there will be an overarching aspect to that.
00:44But in a broader sense, we're also using this year to build the objective force of the Space Force.
00:49What do we need to look like in the next 10, 15 years?
00:53And how will that connect to the other services to make sure that all of the Joint Force requirements are met?
00:57How's that communication?
00:58Does it work pretty well?
01:00Between the services?
01:01Yeah.
01:01Yes, sir.
01:02We collaborate through the Joint Staff in a lot of places, but the JROC is where we share requirements across the services.
01:09We do it at the working group level all the way up to the four-star generals.
01:13Mr. Secretary, since you've been here for about 48 hours, what's your thought?
01:16First off, I'd have to agree with General Saltzman.
01:21Yeah, I haven't had a chance to read their transition plan in detail, but at a high level, a lot of things are focusing on large fires, things like that, under that threat environment.
01:28Those are the same things we're having to deal with.
01:31So there's a lot of connectivity.
01:32And in many cases, what both the Space Force delivers and the Air Force delivers from ISR and other capability for targeting is critical for the Army, as it is for the entire Joint Force.
01:43Yeah, if anybody's got to switch gears, it's got to be you guys, you know, for what we've seen and the things that China's doing.
01:50General, your thoughts?
01:51Very well aligned, Senator.
01:54I think as the Army goes through their transformation initiative, as with all the services, we need to make sure we don't do it in a vacuum.
02:01Understanding that as the Army transforms, we're going to be dependent on them and them on us for base resiliency in the Indo-Pacific.
02:08As they look to sort of streamline some of their ways to do acquisition, consistent with, you know, some of the basic tenets of the Forged Act, those sort of things.
02:16We want to make sure that we're integrated there, and I think we have been undergoing a bit of that ourselves with the way we're developing our new force design.
02:25Not only what we're building, but how we're building it.
02:27And I think having those common practices and the collaboration between the services, as Salty said, is going to be key going forward.
02:36Since you're on a roll, I'll stay with you, General.
02:39We'll go back to KC-46.
02:41I think we have availability around 90 now of KC-46.
02:45Is that correct?
02:47I think we're 89 on the ramp, yes.
02:49Yeah.
02:49What is their availability?
02:51I mean, since they're new, we've heard the problems that they're having up and down, and some are in and out of service.
02:59What's their availability?
03:03See, I knew I was going to be asked this, so I can't remember them all.
03:06So I have it right here.
03:07The KC-46 availability right now is just at 51%.
03:13So, and the challenges with that, there are several challenges.
03:16Is that 51?
03:17Yeah, 51%.
03:18And that includes those that are in the depot maintenance.
03:21And so, again, that is not a number that we're proud of.
03:24But there are several issues that we have been working through with Boeing to help ensure that we deliver combat-capable jets right off the ramp or off the production line.
03:35So there are still some deficiency reports that we're sorting through with Boeing having to do with the upgraded remote visualization system and drain lines and those sort of things.
03:46But right now, the 52% is where we're at.
03:51Does that have the capability that we need for the Indo-Pacific in terms of what it can carry, the range?
03:58It actually does, Senator.
04:00It's actually quite a capable platform as it's available.
04:06One thing we are looking at into the future is not just the amount of gas that it carries, but as we go forward into the next decade or so, we need to ensure that we enhance their survivability, whether that be with onboard systems or with off-board support.
04:20Going into the future, it's not just the tyranny of distance, which is extant, but it will be also the tyranny of operating consistently in a more contested environment.
04:29And so, as we move forward into the next generation aerial refueling system examination, we are looking what the next capabilities will be, whether it's a new platform or more defensive systems on the current character platform.
04:45So we're looking for new capabilities, not just sitting around thinking the KC-46 is going to be the...
04:50We are.
04:51As we look in, the most important thing is the continued recapitalization of the KC-135, which, as I mentioned, the average KC-135 age is older than me.
05:01And so a 63-year-old average jet is not something that we want to continue to try and discover new parts that break.
05:08So in the immediate future, the capacity and the capability of the KC-46 is sufficient.
05:14And as we're looking for long-term, we want to make sure that in the next couple of decades, we can have more survivable tanking capability.
05:21I had the opportunity to fly around the world in a KC-135 with a bunch of other coaches at one time.
05:27Damn near froze to death.
05:30Did you refuel another aircraft?
05:31Did you get to do that?
05:32We did.
05:32All right.
05:32Yeah, we did.
05:35Antiquated is my explanation for that.
05:38Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
05:39Yeah, the environmental controls at the back of a 135 are not awesome.
05:43Yeah.
05:44General Alvin, don't sell yourself short at age 63.
05:48Senator Gillibrand.
05:51Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
05:53Dr. Mink, the Space Force, NRO, NGA are working to establish the policies and procedures that will guide the DOD's use of space-based tactical ISRT.
