00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, Mr. Secretary, General Cain, welcome, welcome.
00:09And I also want to recognize, General, your trip north to Alaska last week or two weeks ago.
00:16We appreciate that. We all know, everyone in this room knows the strategic role that Alaska plays
00:25when it comes to being on the front lines, whether it is the threat from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea.
00:34We're sitting up there. We host the backbone of our nation's missile defense there at Fort Greeley,
00:40advanced fifth-generation fighters at Allison and at J-Bear, critical long-range radar and surveillance systems throughout the state.
00:48We've got key airborne forces at J-Bear, Fort Wainwright. I mean, it's good. It's solid.
00:54We appreciate it, and we think that we're in a pretty critical place, and we think that you recognize and acknowledge
01:02that we're in a pretty critical place. And yet the FY25 defense budget overview document
01:08that was released under the last administration stated that the goal of the budget request in terms of the Arctic
01:14was to, quote, develop a monitor and respond approach.
01:19I thought that that was a pretty passive approach in a highly critical region.
01:26We don't need to go into how many icebreakers we have versus Russia.
01:31The good news is that with this reconciliation bill that we're talking about,
01:35we move to make a difference in an aggressive way that is really, really important.
01:39But I will share with you that I'm a little bit frustrated where we've got stated support
01:53for the role in the Arctic region, and I'm assuming that means the U.S. Arctic region.
02:00There is a seeming fixation on Greenland that I think sends, I don't know whether it's a troubling signal
02:07or a mixed signal, that we're looking past the significance of the U.S. Arctic
02:14and the area that is already part of the United States, and happily so.
02:19But I'd like to remind people, everything that the administration wants in Greenland,
02:25when it comes to strategic location, when it comes to resources and minerals,
02:31we've got it on the U.S. side.
02:35So I think any serious Arctic policy has to start with a serious investment in Alaska.
02:42We've built it.
02:44We need to do more.
02:45I would just ask both you, Mr. Secretary and General Kane,
02:51your view of the strategic importance of Alaska and, more importantly, the broader Arctic,
02:57because this is really, when we're talking about DOD posturing,
03:02to make sure that we're deterring adversaries in the region.
03:06I just came from a relatively uncomfortable exchange with the Army Corps of Engineers.
03:11We don't have a deepwater Arctic port in the United States.
03:19Everybody says it's important, and the signal of importance that we got was a $3 million placeholder in the budget.
03:27To me, that doesn't signify significance.
03:31I'm going to stop talking to listen to both of you.
03:34Thank you, ma'am.
03:36I agree with you.
03:37It's difficult to understate the strategic significance of Alaska,
03:41whether you're looking at Indo-PACOM, whether you're looking at Russia,
03:44whether you're looking at the Arctic, whether you're looking at space-based capabilities,
03:48whether you're looking at energy.
03:50You name it, it's both a defensive posture,
03:53but also a power projection posture that is centrally, a central focus of how we plan.
04:02Senator, first, thanks for letting me visit up there.
04:06I got a full range of academics from your colleague about Billy Mitchell and air power history.
04:11How many times did you hear that?
04:13Ma'am, only a few.
04:15Okay.
04:16But, you know, as the Secretary said, the northern flank is critical,
04:21and it's in the right place on the globe for us to be able to do a lot of things from that power projection platform.
04:27And so as the Department considers through the Secretary, force a rail, I know it will be high on our radar.
04:36Well, I appreciate that and appreciate the continued focus.
04:42There's a lot of focus on the Indo-PACOM, should be, but just remember, we sit right on top of it.
04:47We're connected.
04:48We're part of that.
04:49Yes, ma'am.
04:49I'm running out of time.
04:51I have been concerned.
04:54We have E3 capability up north, of course, but we were all counting on the E7 wedge tail coming our way.
05:06We're kind of limping along up north right now, which is unfortunate.
05:10And the budget proposes terminating the program.
05:14Again, the E3 fleet barely operational now, and I understand the intent to shift towards the space base.
05:25You call it the air moving target indicators.
05:27But my concern is that you've got a situation where you're not going to be able to use more duct tape to hold things together until you put this system in place.
05:44And so how we maintain that level of operational readiness and coverage, I'm not sure how you make it.
05:55General Cain.
05:57Well, ma'am, thank you for the question.
05:59And, you know, the E3 and the E3 community have been really important to us for a long, long time.
06:06And I'll defer to the controller, but, you know, the department has a bridging strategy through investing in some additional airborne platforms in order to gap fill while the space base capabilities come online.
06:19Yes, sir, thank you, ma'am.
06:22We do have in the budget $150 million in FY26 for a joint expeditionary E2D unit with five dedicated E2Ds.
06:31And the budget also funds for additional E2Ds to fill the near-term gap at $1.4 billion.
06:37And can you tell me how that will have implications for what we're seeing up north in Alaska?
06:45I would defer to the secretary and the chairman on that question, ma'am.
06:48The answer is yes.
06:53I would file this entire discussion under difficult choices that we have to make.
06:59But, you know, the E7 in particular would be sort of late, more expensive, and gold-plated.
07:05And so filling the gap and then shifting to space-based ISR is a portion of how we think we can do it best, considering all the challenges.
07:13Well, I appreciate the indulgence of the chair.
07:15My time is well over.
07:16If I can get, if your teams can come back with us to just give us a little bit of a walkthrough in terms of what we can be expecting in this space, I would appreciate it.
07:26Yeah.
07:27Thank you both.
07:27Thank you all.
07:28Thank you, Senator Murkowski.
07:30Members of the subcommittee will have a week to get questions in for the record, and we'd request witnesses to respond with them.
