John Rutherford Presses Coast Guard Admiral On Modernization Of Coast Guard's Aviation

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) spoke about plans to modernize the Coast Guard's aviation division.

Transcript

00:00The chair recognizes Mr. Rutherford for five minutes for his questions.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and Admiral, thank you for being here today.

00:11I want to talk a little bit about the future of the Coast Guard's aviation,

00:17because as your responsibility grows to support not only maritime security,

00:23but defense missions continue to increase and become ever more critical to our national security,

00:31I'm concerned about the mission readiness of our fixed-wing and rotary-wing aviation fleets.

00:38It seems like there's been, prior to you, somewhat of a disjointed response to the aviation planning

00:47and that a comprehensive strategy would help ensure that there are no gaps in readiness.

00:53And one of the things that we actually included in the FY23 Coast Guard reauthorization bill

00:59was a request for a study like that.

01:06So three quick questions on the aviation issue, Admiral.

01:12Does the Coast Guard have the aviation assets required to fill its operational missions today?

01:18Number two, when should we or can we expect the aviation strategy called for in the 23 Coast Guard reauthorization?

01:29And then finally, while I understand the move to want to move to a single platform

01:36because of the commonality of training and maintenance and all of that,

01:42one of the things that I worry about is if all of these assets are being kind of handed down,

01:48a lot of them, I understand, are reaching end of life.

01:53And so that could create some gaps in the not-too-distant future.

02:00Could you talk about your openness to a mixed fleet, if that were necessary, to put that off?

02:06And I'd like you to tell me how we can help you achieve whatever your new plan turns out to be.

02:18Thank you for the questions, Congressman, about the aviation fleet mix and where we're going.

02:23And so we had an opportunity to come up and brief the committee staff

02:27on an initial readout of our aviation strategy going forward,

02:31following on for the requirement in the Authorization Act.

02:34But we have more work to do, and part of that is an ongoing analysis of alternatives

02:38of what that fleet mix should be across our rotary wing or helicopters

02:42and also our fixed-wing fleet.

02:45And so that will also include, I see, an increase in our long-range uncrewed

02:50or unmanned aerial systems.

02:52That's work we've been doing for years in a joint program office approach

02:55with Customs and Border Protection, and I see that as a key component going forward.

02:59But that will be borne out on the analysis of alternatives as we work to refine that aviation strategy.

03:06So part of our challenge is that we have been operating airframes,

03:10particularly the helicopters, to the end of their service life.

03:15In some cases, like for our H-60 that's built by Sikorsky,

03:19well beyond what anyone else in the world operates,

03:21which is why we found ourselves in a difficult position late last year

03:26where for those hulls that we had operated beyond 19,000 hours,

03:30Sikorsky communicated concerns that they did not have data to support that operation beyond that point.

03:35And so we had to ground those aircraft with high time hours

03:37until we can go through and replace the key components that take them over that limit.

03:42And that's just a symptom that even though we can operate aircraft to that level,

03:47we should not be.

03:48We should be investing in new aircraft and recapitalizing those

03:52and then have an appropriate mix to meet not only the demands of today,

03:56but the demands of the future.

03:57Part of the Force Design 2028 effort that Secretary Noem has directed and discussed

04:03will be to look at what the Coast Guard's operating concepts are in the future

04:07and also what our force structure and force design is, including our aviation mix,

04:12and how that fits within the broader mix of assets across our ships, boats, aircraft, and shore facilities.

04:18And we look forward to working with the committee on those needs

04:21and the level of investment required to modernize the future fleet and get to that point.

04:27Thank you, Admiral.

04:27And I've got just 30 seconds left, but you kind of segued into my next question,

04:34which deals with the unmanned systems.

04:37And one of the things that I'd like is can you talk about the resources you need

04:43to get that long endurance aerial unmanned program off the ground

04:48for something like an MQ-9 or some other system

04:54and the importance that that plays in offsetting your needs in the current aviation fleet?

05:01Congressman, I look forward to working with you and the members of the subcommittee

05:05to provide greater detail on that information as we move forward on budget reconciliation

05:09and we look forward to the release of the President's budget request for FY26.

05:15But we've already done very strong work with CBP on the importance

05:19and the value of the long-range UAS.

05:21The MQ-9 is what we operate with CBP.

05:25My time is expired.

05:26I yield back.

05:27Ms. Henson, the floor is yours for five minutes for questions.

05:31All right.

05:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:33Good afternoon, Admiral.

05:33Again, thank you for coming to testify before our subcommittee.

05:36The Coast Guard plays such an important role,

05:38as you've already touched on a number of topics from interdiction.

05:41Bye-bye.

05:41Goodbye.

05:42Bye-bye.

05:58Bye-bye.

06:00Bye-bye.

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