Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today questioned key Department of Defense nominees about the United States’ asymmetric military advantage and readiness challenges facing our forces today
Nominees included: Dr. William LaPlante, nominated to be Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; Erik Raven, nominated to be Under Secretary of the Navy; M. Tia Johnson, nominated to be a Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and Dr. Marvin Adams to be Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security Administration.
Inhofe: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think, Mr. Chairman, you point out something that we don’t like and that is — and I can say this since I think I’m the oldest one in this room —but I can remember when it was unquestionable that we in the United States had the best of everything, and we don’t anymore, as you pointed out in your opening statement. This is something that we regret, but it is a reality. We know that our munition stocks are too low in priority theaters. We don’t have the capacity to produce enough munitions and ammo in the timeframe that we have allotted. This is a key challenge for both deterrence and protraction of warfighting scenarios. For example, we’re sending thousands of Stingers to Ukraine and we don’t even have a hot production line. Dr. LaPlante, this is something that we unfortunately have to recognize and be used to. Let me just ask you the first question: Do we need to make some one-time investments this year so we can expand production of key munitions?
LaPlante: [Muffled] — Question, Mr. Senator. Yes, we do. I believe — and Senator, you said the words “hot production lines” — I believe we need multiple hot productions lines, whether it be munitions, UASs and the like. They by themselves are a deterrent, and we need to put much more focus on that across the board.
Inhofe: Thank you very much. And I think I mentioned in my opening remarks the USS Gerald Ford, in many ways is a classic example of what not to do. From the beginning, this new carrier had unrealistic cost and schedule estimates that failed to account for the risks associated with the ship’s construction. At the same time, there is a well-founded sense of urgency to develop and field new systems faster. Where do you think we should be innovating faster and taking on more risk? And where do we need to have more rigor in our analysis?
LaPlante: Yes, Senator, I would say this. We learned the lesson from both Ford, and we’d like to think we learned a lesson from F-35, that you have to have mature technologies and you have to be thoughtful in the design, and you have to adhere to independent cost estimates right from the beginning. It takes a little bit of time at the beginning, saves a lot of trouble later. But to get innovation, what you have to do is we have to build up the modular open systems like we did for the B-21. And so once you have the open system, then you can be upgrading with technology very fast, and the technology that matures will earn its way on and you have continuous upgrades. It can be done.
Inhofe: Yeah. I appreciate that very much. Mr. Raven, the Navy’s budget, maintenance and infrastructure, and personnel levels are inadequate to maintain the current fleet of approximately 295 ships, much less a fleet of at least 355 that we’ve been talking about and the Congress has challenged us with. Do you agree that based on the threats that we face as a nation, the Navy needs to grow in both capacity and capability?
Raven: Senator, thank you for that question. If confirmed to this position, let me first say that you can count on me to be an advocate for Navy Marine Corps capabilities.
Inhofe: From your past, I’m fully aware of that.
Raven: If you look at warfighting capabilities across the joint force, I think there’s several pillars that all have to work together. That’s modernization, that’s sustainment, that’s manpower, that’s readiness. And all of these have to come together to make that combat credible force to deter our adversary. So if confirmed, I look forward to getting to the bottom of each of those pillars of readiness and working with this committee to address them.
Inhofe: That’s good. And what I’d like to ask you to do is just take the next two or three days and for the record, not this morning, but for the record: What specific steps would you support to grow the fleet in terms of capability, capacity and maintenance and personnel? Not this morning, but the next two or three days?
Raven: Happy to, Mr. Senator. Thank you.
Inhofe: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.