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 Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall on accelerating the critical production of military aircraft.
Inhofe: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple questions that are very similar to what the Chairman has asked, but gives you a chance to go in a little deeper if you want to do so. I’ve referred to the hearing that we had a week ago today with two other experts, and actually gave a quote from one of them. We’ve heard — on this end of the table — from contractors, from service members, everyone from aircraft production to military construction about its [inflation’s] significant, harmful effects.
Late last night, we just received your response from a letter that Mr. Rogers from the House, and I sent some time ago. Now, we only got a response late last night, but I suspect, and I want to make sure that we get this on the record, that you had your response completed prior to that time, but we had not received it yet. Is that accurate?
Kendall: Senator, we had worked on that response over a period of time, and it was reviewed multiple times, I think, as it was finalized. I signed it out yesterday, just before it was delivered to you, I believe.
Inhofe: Yes, but on the other hand, your part was completed prior to that, I would suspect.
Kendall: I don’t know that I can say that, Senator.
Inhofe: Alright, that’s fine. That’s fine. I also talked about something very similar to what the Chairman was talking about here. I talked about the AWACs, the E-7, in my opening statement. Now, this is an issue that’s very close to us because AWACs, some 30, or 27 — I think 27 are in Oklahoma, but the other six are forward deployed, I understand. But I think all of us agree we need to get the E-7 as fast as possible for the high-end fight.
Now, that was asked by the Chairman, but I’d like to be a little more specific. What options are we looking at to accelerate this program? Can we accelerate the acquisition authorities? And is there a way that you think we can put this together so that we can actually have the contract done in ‘22 so we don’t lose an extra year? That’s the concern that I had in my opening statement. What do you think?
Kendall: Senator, we’d really like to accelerate the program if we could. It’s not clear at this time that there are opportunities to do that. We talked about this just yesterday with you. I am exploring some options that might be possible, but I can’t say with any certainty that they can be executed yet. And some of them, quite frankly, are gonna require some changes from some people who we don’t necessarily have control of in terms of their priorities.
We have to get new airplanes, and then we have to modify them, and the supply chain that supports all that is a big part of what we have to do. That’s what takes so much time. I would like to be able to look at things that can reduce risk to en sure that we meet that schedule. There may be things we can do to accelerate planning, but access to the aircraft we would have to modify is going to be the thing that limits us more than anything else. We are going to continue to look for options, and we’ll cooperate with you on that.
Inhofe: Well, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate that. Yes, we talked about that yesterday with all three of you, and I just wanted to give you an opportunity to get on record with it, ‘cause I think that is significant. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.