Gates endorses KC-X requirements - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Gates endorses KC-X requirements

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Pentagon officials are reviewing proposals from Boeing under which DoD would buy new F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters with multiyear contracts, plans the prime contractor says would save the military up to 10 percent.

Gates told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee that Pentagon officials have received “a number of proposals from the contractor” that call for a shift to long-term contracts. Defense officials, led by Navy representatives, are reviewing them, he said.

In a statement, Boeing said it has submitted to DoD officials “pricing information that enables cost savings of 10 percent under a multiyear contract” for Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jet.

During the hearing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Michael Mullen explained that the Pentagon pursues multiyear procurements when they are expected to save money. Typically, he said, a purchase over five years might save money, while a two-year buy likely would not.

The matter is under consideration because the Navy is seeking to buy more F/A-18s than planned in 2011.

Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., asked whether recently announced F-35 delays would force the Navy and Air Force departments to undertake new — and costly — efforts to keep existing F-18, F-16 and F-15 fighters flying longer than planned.

Mullen responded that multiyear purchases were being contemplated, and added, “We are looking hard at how to extend the lives” of various tactical aircraft. He said officials had studied whether F/A-18s could be made to fly 10,000 flight hours, but “we just couldn’t get there,” Mullen said. He said the Air Force will have to “decommission some older planes” while also keeping some jets flying longer.

“There is tremendous attention [on tactical aviation] across the department,” the chairman added.

Gates again defended the Pentagon’s recent F-35 program restructuring, telling the subcommittee he believes the new plans are based on “brutally realistic” cost and schedule estimates.

The secretary offered a new nugget on the F-35 program, saying the Lightning II production program occupies about 6 percent of the floor at one industry facility. Yet, the Pentagon has been paying “70 percent of the overhead,” he said. “I think we can fix that.”

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell later said for proprietary reasons the department cannot disclose that firm.

Tanker

Asked by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., whether Pentagon officials plan to stick by the current solicitation for a new aerial tanker, Gates replied simply, “Yes,” adding later that the department “has no intention to change the requirements” on the KC-X program.

Boeing will bid for the multibillion-dollar, 179-plane KC-X contract; its European rival, EADS, is mulling a bid. If Boeing wins the tanker contract, it would do work on KC-767s in Kansas.

EADS, and its former partner Northrop Grumman, have for months complained that the amended contest rules tilt toward Boeing. Neither Gates nor the lawmakers addressed that aspect of the embattled KC-X competition.

Tiahrt noted that a final World Trade Organization ruling reportedly found that EADS’s parent company, Airbus, received illegal “launch aid” for several aircraft, including the A330 it would pitch for the KC-X deal.

“International politics should never influence” a U.S. weapons acquisition effort, the lawmaker said.

Gates replied that DoD lawyers say existing laws and guidelines provide “no basis” under which the WTO ruling could factor into the final KC-X decision.

The secretary also reiterated that the Pentagon’s topline base budget figure will need to grow by “2 to 3 percent” annually to keep the force structure currently on the books.

Gates noted the Obama administration has said it would freeze much domestic discretionary spending except defense efforts.

He said that the cuts he made to 50 programs will save up to $330 billion, and are the only reason the Pentagon “has been able to make this work.”

“Over the longer term, if we want to maintain this force structure … a minimum investment of 2 to 3 percent real growth” will be needed, Gates said.

New subcommittee Chairman Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Kan., said with two ongoing wars, “this is the last possible time to cut force structure.”

Shipbuilding

Gates said Navy plans to pursue a new ballistic missile submarine in a few years will “suck all of the air out of the shipbuilding budget.” He said Congress “faces a huge challenge at the end of this decade” in deciding whether to inflate the Navy’s annual shipbuilding budget to accommodate the new SSBN program and maintain the current surface ship and submarine plan.

Several subcommittee members said the White House, Navy and Office of Secretary of Defense share responsibility for budget planning. Some questioned why the Pentagon is not already planning for this looming expense.

If there are “tradeoffs” between the new submarine and existing ship programs, Mullen — a former chief of naval operations — said, aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibious ships typically are immune from such discussions.