Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
3/20/2015
As weapon systems in the U.S. nuclear triad age out of their service lives in the next few decades, the full House Armed Services Committee will look more closely at modernization, committee Chair Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this week. “I’m afraid we have grown somewhat complacent about the importance of that triad and what it takes to maintain that nuclear deterrent overall,” he told reporters March 16. “I think we’re going to spend more time … even at the full committee level, in addition to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, looking at these issues, because there’s a lot there.”
AF Leaders Caution about OCO
The House and Senate budget resolutions released this week increased funding for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. The lower chamber’s version put $94 billion into OCO, up from $58 billion in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 request, while the Senate resolution included $89 billion. OCO is sequester-proof, and while the account’s effects on nuclear modernization remain unclear, it could potentially free up triad funding. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on March 17 told HASC that OCO contains certain programs that should be in the Defense Department’s base budget, and service Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh agreed with her that the war account could help buoy the aircraft fleet in the short term. “The problem with OCO funding is that you can’t count on it over time for a long-term investment in modernization, which is one of the problems we have,” Welsh said. “Anything is better than nothing, however.”
Aging B-52 Could Help Fill Role of A-10, If Retired
If Congress grants the Pentagon’s wish to retire the A-10 in FY 16, B-52s and B-1s could complement fighter jets to provide close air support during combat, Welsh said as part of a response to a question by Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) during Tuesday’s hearing. McSally challenged the Air Force’s fielding of the 50-plus-year-old B-52, whose youngest plane is about 10 years older than the oldest A-10. “We don’t have the B-52 in the inventory by choice,” Welsh said in response to a question by Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) during yesterday’s hearing. “If you’ll recall the B-2 was supposed to replace a large part of that fleet, but that buy was stopped at 20 aircraft. So that’s why we’re building a long-range strike bomber now, because we need 80 to 100 bombers.”
The Air Force’s proposal to retire the A-10 in FY 2015 was rebuffed by Congress. B-52s are currently undergoing upgrades, including modernization of their satellite communications and data-link systems—a program known as Combat Network Communications Technology, or CONECT. “We’ve had B-52s longer than I’ve been alive. The submarines and the weapons themselves are years past their expected design life. We keep replacing a few parts on the missiles and think they’re going to work like we intend them,” Thornberry said. “The lower the defense budget, the more stuff [there is] that has to be cut out. Not exactly rocket science.”
