U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, chairman of the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Committee, brought the hearing to Wright-Patterson with fellow House Republicans Steve Chabot of Cincinnati, Steve Stivers of Upper Arlington, and Brad Westrup of Cincinnati.
Lawmakers examined the role of fifth-generation fighters the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II to meet adversary threats and a projected shortage of 700 Air Force fighter pilots by October.
Congress has pushed for an examination of restarting production of the F-22 Raptor as China and Russia have pursued technologically newer aircraft and sophisticated air defense systems.
Lockheed Martin assembled 187 of the advanced stealth fighters before the Pentagon cut an expected order of 381 planes. “Unfortunately, the decision to stop F-22 production was one driven by budgeting goals rather than one driven by the need to obtain a required capability,” Turner said.
The Air Force has studied future air requirements through 2030 and recommended against starting production of the plane, Harris said.
The two-star general said the service branch doesn’t have the money without taking it from other weapons programs, it would take five to 10 years to get the first new F-22s based on what would then be a two-decade old aircraft “and we’re ready for what’s next,” he said.
It’s wiser, Harris said, to keep the investment in the F-35 to fill in the gaps until a successor is in the fleet. The Air Force has projected buying more than 1,700 of the planes to replace the 1970s-era F-16 fighter and A-10 ground attack jet.
Turner said lawmakers will look closely at options. “Whether it’s the F-22 or not, we’re going to need something more than just the F-35,” he said.
Buying more F-22s would mean taking money out of other programs or lifting spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, defense analysts contacted by this newspaper said.
“The Air Force’s current modernization plans, which include the new B-21 bomber, are already unaffordable,” said Mandy Smithberger, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project On Government Oversight in Washington, D.C.
The Air Force, meanwhile, has projected it will be about 700 fighter pilots short by the end of September. The experienced aviators are leaving because of high-operating tempos, pay rates, and for opportunities in the commercial aviation sector, Harris said in an interview. The service branch is ramping up training the number of pilots and boosting incentive pay to try to rebuild the loss in ranks, he said. The Air Force also has 10 percent fewer aircraft maintainers than it needs, the general said.
Adversaries using cyber espionage to steal crucial data on advanced weapons was a key concern, also, lawmakers said.
They noted the near identical appearance between the F-35, the nation’s newest fighter, and the Chinese J-31. The Air Force displayed a photo at the hearing that showed the exterior similarities of the two jets.
“This is a deliberate stealing and copying of our technology,” Stivers said. He called for higher cyber security protections on defense contractors “to protect our true national secrets.”
Harris also said at the projected pace of acquiring 48 F-35 jets a year, China would have more fifth-generation fighters in the Pacific within 15 to 20 years. “In a fight tonight scenario, they may actually outnumber us with airplanes like that,” he said.
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