Many Air Force acquisition programs are “solid,” and “prudent,” the Biden administration’s nominee to lead those programs at the Pentagon told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday — “especially those which are currently modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent.”
The declaration was part of Andrew Hunter’s advanced policy questions, which the former Pentagon hand and Hill staffer provided to the committee in advance of Tuesday’s hearing to consider his nomination to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics.
In his policy questionnaire, Hunter pledged support for both the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile program, supported by prime contractor Northrop Grumman, and the Long Range Standoff Weapon cruise missile program that the Air Force contracted out to Raytheon.
Hunter did, however, say that he would, if confirmed “review the contracting strategies for these efforts and share my findings with Department leadership and Congress when requested.”
The Air Force intends to procure between 1,000 and 1,1100 LRSO missiles at a cost of around $10.8 billion, according to a 2020 report by the Congressional Research Service. The service in 2020 announced it would pursue Raytheon’s Long Range Standoff weapon design instead of Lockheed Martin’s. Northrop, meanwhile, has a nine-year contract, awarded in 2020 and worth more than $13 billion over 10 years, to build the first Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Missiles.
Hunter, now a senior fellow in the International Security Program and director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, was last at the Pentagon in 2014, when he wrapped a three-year stint that included serving as chief of staff to Ash Carter and Frank Kendall, each of whom was previously under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics.
Prior to that, Hunter had a long career in the House of Representatives, which he capped as an aide for the House Armed Services Committee from 2005 to 2011.
