Published: 15 Feb 2011 08:07
Though the overall U.S. Air Force budget will shrink from $170.8 billion in yet-to-be-passed fiscal 2011 budget to $166.2 billion in the president's fiscal 2012 budget request, and the service is set to begin several new acquisition programs in the next fiscal year.
The programs include a new Long Range Strike family of systems and a new trainer to replace the T-38 Talon. The service will also select the winner of the KC-X tanker aircraft and new Light Attack Aerial Reconnaissance Aircraft.
The Air Force will continue to purchase the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft, F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, C-27 Spartans, several C-130 variants, and the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The service is also pursuing modernization projects for a host of aircraft including the F-22, F-15, C-17, C-130 and C-5, among others. Additionally, the service is launching a new effort to stabilize its space procurement programs.
The Air Force's research and development budget has actually increased slightly over the previous year's budget request, growing from $18.2 billion in fiscal 2011 to $19 billion in fiscal 2012. The largest new program in the research and development account is the Long Range Strike Family of Systems, the "centerpiece" of which is a long range, stealthy, penetrating, nuclear-capable optionally manned bomber. The fiscal 2012 budget includes $197 million for the program, while the Future Years Defense Program includes a total of $3.7 billion for the new aircraft.
The Air Force hopes the new bomber will be operational by the "mid-2020s," said Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.
After the cancellation of a previous effort to build a new bomber in 2009, the service re-examined its options and concluded that the Long Range Strike Family of Systems should include not just a bomber, but Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic Attack (EA), and communication portions of the program, said Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for budget. He added that there would be one type of airframe, but with different missions depending upon the payload.
The Air Force, however, has not fully fleshed out the exact requirements for the aircraft. Important decisions remain, including how the concept of "optional manning" will work.
"Conceptually: optionally manned. To be determined: how that will work," Flowers said.
The service hopes to eventually buy between 80 and 100 of the new bombers, he added.
The Air Force is launching the T-X program to replace the T-38 trainer. The T-38 is increasingly unable to the meet the training needs of fifth-generation fighters such as the F-22 and F-35. The fiscal 2012 budget included $16 million for the new aircraft, Flowers said.
The Air Force also hopes to award the long-awaited KC-X contract to buy a new tanker. Boeing and EADS have offered the 767 and Airbus A330 respectively to meet the service's requirements. "We're asking for $900 million for the KC-X tanker and hope make an award within a month or so," Hale said.
Once the contract finalized, the Air Force will buy four KC-X developmental aircraft for tests, Flowers said. The lack of a fiscal 2011 budget will not affect the tanker program because it is technically not a new start program, Hale said. The Air Force will have to "reprioritize" money to pay for the aircraft, he added.
The Air Force is slated to buy nine Light Attack Aerial Reconnaissance Aircraft, Flowers said.
Other procurement programs are continuing at full-steam.
The Air Force will continue to buy MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft at the maximum possible rate of 48 aircraft a year, Flowers said. The Reaper procurement is part of a service effort to achieve 65 combat air patrols, he said. The Air Force had hoped to buy 48 aircraft in the fiscal 2011 budget, but has thus been stymied by the continuing impasse in Congress, he said.
The Air Force will slow down its purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. While the service was to have purchased 23 F-35 fighters in fiscal 2011, the Air Force will only buy 19 jets in the coming year, Flowers said.
The Air Force will also buy nine C-27 Spartan transports and 11 C-130 Hercules transport derivatives. The service will buy six more CV-22 tilt-rotors and four HH-60G helicopters.
While the service is buying three more Global Hawks in fiscal 2011, the purchase of the Block 40 version of the aircraft is being limited to 11, Flowers said. The savings will be used to upgrade the electro-optical infrared cameras on the Block 30 version of the aircraft, he explained. Marilyn Thomas, Flowers' deputy, added that 11 Block 40 aircraft provided two combat air patrols of ground moving target indication radar aircraft, which combined with the existing E-8 JSTARS fleet, provides "sufficient capability." The increasing cost of the Global Hawk aircraft contributed to the decision to truncate the program, Flowers said.
The Air Force will fund modernization of the C-17, C-5, and older C-130s. It is also funding modernization of the F-15, B-1, B-2 and F-22. Under the new fiscal 2012 budget, the entire combat coded Raptor fleet will now receive the Increment 3.2 upgrade.
Previously, only the last 87 (now 86) Block 35 production Raptors would have received the new upgrade, which is now under development. Now, 63 older Block 30 jets will also receive the ability to carry the AIM-9X and AIM-120D missiles and receive the ability to target eight Small Diameter Bombs at eight separate targets.
The Air Force is working to stabilize its space programs, Flowers said.
The service's new approach uses block buys and multi-year contracts, he said, to "stabilize production." The new strategy would use "advanced procurement, procurement, and advanced appropriations" to achieve its goals, he said, which would require Congressional support.
As part of the new effort, the Air Force will buy two Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites for $552 million in fiscal 2012. However, the purchase would function as a down payment of sorts, Flowers explained.
Other satellite programs will follow the same example, he said.
The new approach will also extend to rocket boosters, Flowers said. The Air Force will buy the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle in Blocks, he said. In fiscal 2012, the Defense Department will buy five boosters, four for the Air Force, one for the Navy. The service will also buy four more rockets in fiscal 2013 and five more in fiscal 2014.
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