Foundation Forum

The Honorable F. Whitten Peters
Acting Secretary of the Air Force
AFA Air Warfare Symposium 98

February 27, 1998

"Meeting Today's Challenges: Flight Path to the 21st Century"

Thank you, General Shaud, for that kind introduction. And thank you all for that warm welcome! I'm delighted to be here this morning. First of all, I'm out of Washington. What a great feeling that is! Second, and more importantly, I'm delighted to give you, the great supporters of our Air Force, an update on the challenges we face today and how we're preparing for the 21st Century.

We're currently in the Posture and Budget hearings cycle over on the Hill. In fact, two weeks ago General Ryan and I testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. And, I'd like to share with you now some of the Air Force's future plans and priorities, and in particular, our proposed program for Fiscal Year 1999.

For Fiscal Year 1999, the Air Force has three budget priorities: People; Readiness; and Modernization. People come first, because we cannot have a ready force today or tomorrow unless we attract, train, and retain the highest quality men and women to operate our 21st Century technologies. Readiness and modernization are equally key to our present and future national security ­ but in our constrained budget environment, we must assume some risk in current readiness in order to pay for that modernization that is key to future security.

We believe we have properly balanced our 1999 budget, increasing funding for readiness-related items by some $1 Billion, while also providing increased funding for key modernization programs, in air superiority, global mobility, and space. Importantly, over the FYDP, we have achieved 15% real growth in investment accounts.

Our three major budget priorities directly support the QDR strategy, the National Defense Panel (NDP) Report, and the Chairman's Joint Vision 2010. In fact, the NDP reaffirmed that aerospace power plays a significant role in "Shaping; Responding; and Preparing" for an uncertain future.

People - Shaping the International Environment

Let me turn first to people. People are central to our efforts in shaping the international environment. Over the past year, our airmen have been engaged around the world and have flown into virtually every country in the world. Our forces, for example, have supported peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, humanitarian fire-fighting operations in Indonesia, and non-combatant evacuation operations in Albania and Sierra Leone.

We also contributed significantly to shaping events by participating in 53 joint and multilateral exercises worldwide. As a prime example, a formation of C-17s set a trans-Atlantic airdrop record, inserting 500 troops from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division into Kazakhstan ­ flying 20 hours non-stop. In Kazakhstan, they were joined by multilateral forces and were escorted by Russian MiG fighter aircraft.

And, the Air Force is also heavily engaged in Southwest Asia (SWA), in Operations Northern and Southern Watch, where on a typical day 8,500 Air Force men and women launch 150 sorties over Iraq. Of course, over the last few weeks, SWA has been a bit more hectic.

These operations are not without a cost. The deployment rates of our Total Force have increased dramatically since the end of the Cold War. And, we've asked the Reserve Forces to do a larger share. During 1997, our Reserve Component deployed during every contingency tasking. On average, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve aircrews serve 110 days a year in uniform, and their support teams served 80 days. Altogether last year, over 14,000 Total Force airmen were deployed on any given day ­ a fourfold increase over 1989, despite a 39% decrease in total end strength since the end of the Cold War.

The toll of these operations on Air Force men and women has been dramatic. Two years ago, many of our men and women were deployed well over our goal of 120 days per year. In the last year, until the recent deployments to Southwest Asia, we had substantially reduced deployment rates for many units through global sourcing, creative use of reserve and guard units, and increases in manning in highly stressed specialties. There is much more to be done in this area. In fact, a great deal of the discussions at CORONA have centered on the issue of how to support expeditionary missions without crushing OPTEMPO. General Ryan will have more to say about this.

Strengthening the Quality of Life for all of our airmen is our highest, enduring priority. We owe it to our airmen to ensure their faithful service is rewarded with pay, housing, medical, and community support services that meet their needs.

In our Fiscal Year 1999 budget, we have funded the pay raise to the legal limit ­ 3.1%; we are building 3500 new or renovated family houses; we will cut the ribbon on 22 new or renovated child care centers; and we'll convert all our dormitories with "gang" latrines to the DoD 1+1 standard. About 1/3 of our MILCON budget is devoted to these quality of life improvements.

Over the past year, we have worked hard to decrease the stress of deployments. We have increased the amount of time our men and women at home stations can spend with their families after a deployment and have improved family support during times of deployment. For example, we have reduced the Air Force participation in joint exercises 15 percent and have tried to combine Operational Readiness Inspections with operational activities.

These efforts are substantial, but by no means solve our Quality of Life problems. We will be working quality of life issues very hard, again in the FY00 budget cycle that has already started. We all recognize the clear link between quality of life, retention, and readiness, and we must solve quality of life to keep our readiness at acceptable levels.

Readiness - Responding to the Full Spectrum of Crises

We are also working on other aspects of readiness to support the "Respond" portion of the QDR strategy. Today, the men and women of our Armed Forces are ready and remain capable. Ninety-one percent of our units are at readiness ratings of C-1 or C-2, with the Air Force's front line units in PACAF and USAFE significantly higher. However, some readiness indicators are dropping. Our mission-capable rates, for example, have declined 6.8%, from our Gulf War high. Engine readiness has also fallen, particularly for the F100-229 and TF39 series engines used in our fighters (F-15 and F-16) and the C-5 airlifter, respectively. And, notwithstanding the changes made to Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP) and Aviation Career Incentive Pay (ACIP) in 1998, pilot retention remains a grave concern.

The reasons for declining readiness are complex. With respect to engines, turmoil in the San Antonio ALC work force coupled with a shortfall in spare parts funding in Fiscal Year 1997 have caused lower than average productivity. Elsewhere, about 1/3 of our depot work is moving to new locations with attendant disruption. Across our fleet, old age has increased the difficulty of keeping aircraft running and has raised the cost of readiness. The average age of our aircraft is rapidly approaching 20 years--and in 4 years, 75% of our fleet will be over 20 years old.

The Air Force is committed to overcoming these challenges. We increased readiness-related funding in the Fiscal Year 1998 and1999 budgets. We are also investing in additional engines for our F-15 fleet and in new engines for the RC-135. We have started an engine recovery program, and will shortly reactivate a TF-39 engine repair facility at Travis AFB in an effort to improve the reliability of the C-5 fleet. In Fiscal Year 1999, possibly earlier, the F100 engine core workload ­ 25% of the F100 workload ­ will transfer to a more stable workforce at Oklahoma City ALC. Finally, we are upgrading old equipment. For example, our Fiscal Year 1999 investment in the Pacer CRAG program, upgrades the avionics suites on 121 KC-135s with state-of-the-art "glass cockpit" systems. We have also programmed $1/2 Billion for C-5 engine and avionics upgrades. And a few days ago, the Chief and I asked AQ and IL to give us a hard-look report on how to get longer "on wing" times for the F100­229 and TF39 engines.

However, it will take time to see "the effects" of these funding and operational changes. Moreover, timely completion of the public and private competitions at Kelly and McClellan is essential to reverse the downward trend of our maintenance indicators. I am committed to awarding contracts for those workloads in that fiscal year.

Another key ingredient to readiness and a major challenge facing the Department is retention. First, in our enlisted ranks, the middle management retention level is 6% below our current goal. This means, instead of keeping 75% of our middle managers, we have only been able to retain 69%. We're losing people with leading edge technical skills and priceless leadership experiences to an extremely competitive and the strongest American economy in a generation. To reverse this trend, we are expanding the Selective Reenlistment Bonus program from 41 to 88 Air Force specialties and increasing the size of the bonus where manning and retention rates are the lowest.

Second, pilot retention continues to be a problem. To address the current shortages and hedge against future projections, we are increasing active component pilot production to 1,100 by FY00, and making equivalent increases in ARC training. We are also aggressively implementing the new aviation career incentive pay and bonus programs passed by Congress last year. General Ryan is working this problem hard, and I am confident we will find new ways to retain our pilots.

Finally, the foundation to readiness is training. As many of you are aware, Secretary Cohen asked Senator Kassebaum to lead a review of each of the Service's basic training methods. Are we giving our airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Marines the best training possible as they begin their military service? Is gender integrated training the right way for the Air Force to go? We are studying the recommendations of the Kassebaum Commission right now. I've met with Dr. Lori Murray, the Executive Director of that commission, visited Lackland AFB to observe Air Force basic and operations training, and went to Parris Island earlier this month to see Marine Corps recruit training. I spoke with training instructors and recruits alike--their inputs were essential to understand this issue. More recently, I've met with DACOWITS, to get the report of its recent survey of training facilities. I think our current programs are very strong, but have benefited from this scrub in several ways. Our next step is to complete our study and report our findings to Secretary Cohen by the middle of March.

Modernization - Preparing for an Uncertain Future

While we must field a force that is both ready and cost-effective today, it must be modern and prepared for tomorrow's challenges. A significant future challenge identified by the National Defense Panel is reducing our vulnerability to asymmetric threats. One of the most formidable threats faced by our deployed troops in SWA is the specter of chemical or biological attack. In 1999, we will invest approximately $225M in passive chemical-biological defensive measures and nearly $150M in active defensive measures. In addition, as part of our defense in depth against a cyber attack, we have implemented the Automated Security Incident Measurement System (ASIMS) at all 108 Air Force bases to detect network intrusions. I have asked the CIO and key headquarters staff to meet with me next week to review recent cyber attacks on DoD systems and to identify prudent next steps for hardening our systems.

We are also funding the "break-through" capabilities identified by the QDR and NDP. Our number-one priority is the F-22 Raptor, the next-generation, air dominance fighter. As I saw at Dobbins this week, its super-cruise, stealth and integrated avionics make it truly revolutionary--and will give every member of the joint team freedom from attack and freedom to attack. Next, the Airborne Laser, or ABL, will transform the nature of future warfare through its "speed-of-light" capability to shoot down Theater Ballistic Missiles in their boost phase. The Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, will replace the aging Defense Support Program satellites and provide key information to missile warning defense systems. Finally, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle or EELV will supplant the current fleet of launch vehicles to provide assured, cost effective access to space.

These modernization programs should not be viewed as individual priorities, but rather as inseparable capabilities for the expeditionary Air Force of the future which must operate in the face of, and counter, future WMD threats. Let me illustrate:

In less time than it takes me to finish this sentence, our SBIRS ­ launched on an EELV - will relay launch information on an enemy "SCUD"-type missile to our ABL, on patrol in the skies near our adversary's border, to protect aerial port operations where our C-17s unload joint forces.

An F-22 formation is near-by, providing an ABL-CAP (combat air patrol) support package, as well as protecting our AWACS and Joint Stars aircraft.

Secure from aerial threats, the ABL delivers a "speed-of-light" kill (at only $1K per shot), knocking out the SCUD in its boost phase, raining debris over the adversary's head, in his backyard.

At the same time AWACS, Joint Stars and our space systems find, fix, target, and track opposing forces and provide enhanced battle management to our Joint Commanders.

This lethal AEF package is not based on theory -- it is firmly grounded on the facts and shows the potential of the Revolution in Military Affairs. As you know, the F-22 first flight test last fall was an unqualified success. Two days ago, I visited the F-22 production line, and we're on track; I was very pleased with what I saw. Similarly, the early ABL tests have been very positive -- I've seen first-hand, at the Starfire Optical Range, the emerging capabilities we are pursuing. We're moving out -- these technologies are at-hand and we are working hard to find the money to implement them.

"Do-Able Space"

As long as we're looking to the future, let me tell you about a new concept we've just chartered: "Do-Able Space." John Kennedy once said that "a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." "Do-Able Space" is an effort to look out to the future to identify key technologies and capabilities that represent the first steps of our 21st Century journey to Space.

We are asking Dan Hastings, our Chief Scientist, and the SAB to identify service and technology investments we can and should start today if we are to have these key enablers when we need them. We have also asked them for strategies to leverage all sources of funding for this S&T.

We envision an evolving Air Force stewardship role by partnering with NASA, the NRO, DARPA and the commercial space world to leverage our investments.

The focus of "Do-Able Space" is to define near-term action items that we can execute in a constrained budget environment. These action items are ideally useful in themselves and as building blocks for grander visions.

Let me give you an example of how we are already executing this concept:

Recently, the Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and DARPA signed a Memorandum of Agreement, committing funding and personnel resources to demonstrate mobile target tracking from space by 2004. Imagine passing along data from a space-based moving target indicator to the command post or the cockpit. This capability takes the concept of "force-multiplier" to a new level by putting teeth in the front-end of the Find Fix Track Target and Engage (F2T2E) construct. It also furthers DARPA's efforts to build smaller, cheaper satellites and provides NRO an excellent SAR platform. Equally important, it allows the Air Force and NRO to build and operate a joint program office that can be the basis for future joint efforts. We owe a great debt to Art Money, Keith Hall, and Larry Lynn for putting this together.

A possible second program will be to develop sensors that could be placed on military and civilian satellites that could determine if the satellite had been attacked by a directed energy weapon. This is the space version of our cyber space warning systems. Such sensor systems are an essential building block for any system that would defend space assets, and may well be something we could afford to begin now.

We are also working hard to find more headroom within the Air Force topline to spend on modernization.

The Air Force has achieved significant cost reductions through ongoing efforts to bring about a Revolution in Business Affairs.

Since 1995, we've cut HQ manning by 1700 positions

Through the recent C-5 Depot competition we should save $190 million over the next 7 years

Recent and planned A-76 competition will yield savings of over $1 billion

And, acquisition reform has saved some $7 billion and avoided over $11 billion in costs

As part of SECDEF's Defense Reform Initiative, we will soon be saving money by buying energy regionally, selling off our utility systems, and moving to paper-less business operations.

BRAC

Still, more remains to be done. We continue to pay for excess support structure. We have too few forces spread over too many bases. Prudent BRAC decisions are vital to our ability to bring our infrastructure in line with our force structure and help us fund future modernization efforts. The four previous BRAC rounds illustrate this point. These rounds closed or realigned 39 Air Force installations resulting in cost avoidance savings of $5.6 billion through 2001. To put that in perspective, $5.6 billion equates to a 3-squadron wing of F-22s and Joint Strike Fighters or the entire effort to develop, build, buy, and test the Air Force's full fleet of 7 ABL aircraft.

We must also consolidate our forces on fewer bases in order to meet the challenges of an expeditionary Air Force. Yesterday, in CORONA, we were lamenting that we have not been able to reduce the ratio of rated staff positions to cockpits below one-to-two. If we put more aircraft in squadrons and wings--as recommended by several recent GAO studies--we could probably cut staff positions and release experienced pilots back to cockpits. That would ease our pilot shortage, but would take "iron" off several bases.

Similarly, we need to consolidate forces on fewer bases so that when we deploy part of a base to, say, Southwest Asia, there are still enough folks at home to run the base. Unless we do this, we will continue to have our men and women who are left at home working routine 12-hour days. We must stop such overwork if we are to improve retention.

Too many bases waste money, waste pilots, and overwork the force. Some have got to go.

Importantly, local communities benefit from BRAC as well. The BRAC process allows DOD to fund some additional types of renewal efforts and environmental clean up, and provides a streamlined process for transferring excess property to local communities. If you talk to the community and business leaders at the Air Force Bases affected by BRAC, they'll tell you of the outstanding opportunities to transform a base. Job creation statistics drive that point home loud and clear: Almost 20,000 jobs have been created to date--but we haven't stopped there. Our partnership with local communities continues, and because of that commitment, we're confident this number will multiply over time. An excellent example of this is the contract Boeing signed with GKDC last week to reuse C-5 maintenance facilities at Kelly AFB. This contract opens the door to a major, high technology, aviation and repair facility in San Antonio, with a potential of almost 1000 Boeing jobs in the short term and many more jobs from Boeing's suppliers.

For the Air Force to have the right force structure and to afford the restructuring and modernization necessary to properly execute our expeditionary mission, we need Congress to approve two more rounds of base closures for 2001 and 2005. Simply put, BRAC is tomorrow's readiness decision that we must begin planning today.

Conclusion

As we plan for the future, our principle focus will be on building a seamless Total aerospace force, one that is ready to meet the challenges of the QDR--whenever and where ever--we are called upon to "Shape; Respond; Prepare."

On behalf of the men and women of our aerospace team, in particular those deployed around the world, thank you for your continued support.

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