00:00Other questions for the record? Thank you, Senator Hirono. Senator Cotton.
00:05General Ullathan, you've talked about the need to buy new aircraft to replace our oldest fighters.
00:11Why is that? Under the current fighter production plans, we're going to be flying some of our oldest aircraft into the 2040s.
00:17Would purchasing more kinds of new fighters now both increase deterrence and improve our ability to defend the homeland while projecting power abroad in the near term?
00:29Yeah, Senator, I think that that's a great point in having not only the right capacity but the capability for those to make sure that we have the right mix of the high end to be able to dominate and be relevant in an Indo-Pacific fight,
00:41as well as other fighters that may not need to be as sophisticated as our fifth generation, sixth generation, to build out the whole capacity of the Air Force.
00:50Will the CCA Increment 1 be able to replace manned fighters like the Strike Eagle and F-16?
00:59Senator Cotton, we're on the sort of the nascent part of the collaborative combat aircraft, but my assessment as of right now, it will not replace that.
01:06It will be a great augmentation, and its threshold is to be able to work with the F-35 and the F-22 even before the F-47 gets fielded.
01:15So it will help us deliver more combat capability at a better cost point.
01:20But as far as replacing the manned fighters, that remains to be seen.
01:24What we have built into Increment 1, my assessment right now is that would not be a good one-for-one replacement, but it does augment.
01:29I did not think so, and given that the President's made the decision to move forward with the F-47 as a manned fighter,
01:39if it can't be replaced by autonomous aircraft, you wouldn't think it could do so for the F-16 or the Strike Eagle either.
01:49Focusing on just the next decade then, our current acquisition options are pretty limited.
01:54We've got just a couple airframes right now going.
01:57Would you be able to use newly built U.S. configured Block 80 F-16s to strengthen our strike fighter fleet
02:06if Congress can find additional funds for such an effort?
02:11Senator Cotton, to give you good advice on that, I'd really have to look at what the Defense Industrial Base can do on that
02:16because my sense is that the current Block 70 is really eating up a lot of the production line and the production capacity
02:22in all the FMS sales, looking at what that would be to take that export variant and adapt it to a Block 80
02:28and the time it would take and where that would fall in the production line.
02:32I'd have to get back with you with more details to see if that would be an advisable situation.
02:36Well, I'm glad you raised the FMS issue with Block 70.
02:40For the quickest building timeline, would you be able to use modern Block 70s
02:45that are being made for our allies to meet critical needs if that option were available?
02:53I'd have to take that one for the record because I don't want to give you a yes or no
02:56because specifically understanding what the export variant can and can't do
03:01and any sort of adjustments we would have to make to make it more easily integratable with our U.S. built fighters.
03:07So I would need to see what the integration opportunities and costs would be
03:13before I could give you a good answer on that.
03:14But if I could take it back for the record and give you a bit more detailed answer.
03:17I would like, yeah, more details back to the committee on that.
03:21Because getting to your first point, it's not just about the most highly capable fighters,
03:27the 22s, 35s, and ultimately the 47s, but about the capacity, just the sheer number we have.
03:31And there are pretty significant shortfalls over the next decade.
03:36Isn't that right?
03:37Well, as we continue to keep the older aircraft, they do become more and more expensive to maintain.
03:43And as we mentioned before, the mission capable rate, it's not what we'd like it to be.
03:48It's, again, the average F-16 is, it was really, the average F-16 that we have right now
03:53was built right about the time the Cold War ended.
03:56So even those F-16s are pretty, are getting pretty old.
03:59Okay.
04:00Finally, beyond the fighter aircraft, you've said the country needs more air force.
04:06Could you elaborate specifically on what you mean in practical terms and what specifically
04:11Congress can do to best support the country getting more air force?
04:16Thank you, Senator.
04:16And I'll go very quickly.
04:18I think when we look at all of the things that we'll discuss here today, I would love to have
04:22a more rapidly modernized and capable air refueling force because it's about range in the Pacific.
04:28And so having a survivable tanking to be able to do that.
04:31More air force.
04:31So as we do our operations in the Indo-Pacific in agile combat employment to ensure base resiliency,
04:37base survivability, so some more air base air defense, to have more capabilities, not only in the platforms,
04:43but in the munitions.
04:44Our munitions portfolio would need to increase.
04:46So there are so many things.
04:48And oh, by the way, those, I haven't even talked about the nuclear, which we cannot take our
04:51eyes off the ball on that.
04:53And as well as what it's going to take for defending the threats to the homeland.
04:56So all of those things, when you stack them up and we try and prioritize with the limited
05:00budgets, there are many unhappy folks here that we don't have all that we would like to have.
05:05And so I think it's not only just more capacity, but also putting more lethality into that capacity.
05:10Thank you, Senator Cotton.
05:13General Alvin, how are we going to get more range in our refueling in the near term?
05:22Well, actually, I was talking about the survivability.
