Jake Ellzey Questions Navy Reserve Official About Recapitalization Efforts For Aircraft Fleet

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX) questioned Vice Admiral Nancy S. Lacore, Chief of Navy Reserve at the Department of the Navy, about recapitalization efforts.

Transcript

00:00Kelsey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here. I was going to start serious,

00:04but then I looked at the panel and I decided that, according to my written notes here,

00:08Beat Army and Beat Air Force are not just a slogan, it's a reality this year. So I'm sorry

00:15I had to say that. Good fun. Thank you all for being here. As I look at this distinguished panel,

00:23and I mean that with all seriousness, I see combat leaders and corporate knowledge,

00:26the likes of which can't be replicated anywhere else. And as we start any fight or respond to any

00:34attack, after a sustained amount of time, it's the corporate knowledge and the aircraft and the men

00:39and women that are represented by you that are the ones who sustain that fight. And so I think that

00:47you have an incredibly difficult job, especially when we talk about recapitalization. And it's never

00:55met, but when you come to the fight, you bring the second rate stuff, but the first rate

01:00fighting men and women. So thank you for being here. General Anderson, Lonnie, as I've known you

01:06for many, many years, in the short time that I have here, give me about 30 seconds of if you could

01:12ask me to ask you a question, what would it be? And answer it real quick.

01:15What are your Marine Corps reserves doing today? And Congressman, 12% of the Marines deployed forward

01:23are reservists today. And that number is going to triple through 2027. So as we continue to prepare

01:28for the fight, that's what the Marine Corps Reserve is focused on. And we are part of the total force.

01:33Like a chairman mentioned earlier, we are not an afterthought. We are part of the solution. It is not

01:38something that we do later. We are forecasted in our deployments out through 2031. So our members can plan,

01:44prepare, and be ready for that deployment. That's a perfect answer. Thank you for asking.

01:49Yeah. And those folks are dual-headed. They're doing civilian jobs back at home with families,

01:56and then they put on the uniform, as all of you have, and go to the fight. And that's to be

02:01commended. And we've relied on that in every fight since Desert Storm and even before.

02:07Going as we talk about the Indo-PACOM, which is usually the first word that comes out as we're

02:14talking about China, we talk about contested logistics. The Marine Corps is going to play

02:19a very large role in that. But so is contested logistics. Not only means cargo, but it also means

02:26tanking. And Admiral LaCour, no slouch yourself in the cockpit. I think that you and I shared the

02:33round domes in San Diego at the same time when I was at HS4. We've tried to get you all some recap

02:40on your KC-130Js. Talk a little bit about the capabilities of the J versus what you're trying

02:48to recap on, and how many you need in fiscal year 26 to accomplish that mission of contested logistics.

02:55Thank you, Congressman. Happy to talk about that. As you know, the C-130 is only operating

03:00in the reserve, and it provides the Navy's only inter-theater airlift capable of moving

03:06oversized cargo. And we're not part-time. We're doing this 24-7, 365 in all the major theaters.

03:13We have 27 aircraft right now, the Tangos, with an average age of 34 years and a mission-capable

03:19rate of 40%. Recapping to the Julietts will get us, first and foremost, survivability systems,

03:25which will allow us to operate in that contested environment. But we'll also anticipate a 75%

03:29mission-capable rate, which will go a long way. We started this recap journey in 2024,

03:34and we're behind Glideslope, honestly. The plan was to be at 32 aircraft by 2030. We got one in 24,

03:42two in 25, and we're super grateful for them. But right now, for the out years, we need to be looking

03:47at six per year in order to get us where we need to go. And what are we going to get out of this?

03:52A lot. We anticipate doubling our sortie rate, getting three times the service radius in combat.

04:00And if you're looking at aerial refueling and ground refueling in an austere air

04:04field, we're looking at eight times what we have currently available to us.

04:08Okay. Well, I know that the KC-130J, for those who don't know, the J will only refuel Marine Corps and

04:16Navy aircraft. It won't, at least in this configuration, will not refuel our Air Force

04:22brothers and sisters. So as we talk about the Indo-PACOM, which is, it's an all-services fight,

04:28but we talk about the Naval services a lot. So you said, what was the percentage of availability

04:35of the T? About 40%. About 40%. So we're just a couple of years. If we fund you for what you need

04:43over the next two to three years, you're actually going to surpass your capability with far fewer

04:48aircraft because of the higher availability rate, right? So we need to be emphasizing getting you

04:53what you need in the next couple of years. Would you agree with that? 100%. Absolutely agree.

04:57All right. Five minutes goes fast. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your time. I yield back.

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