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Show HILLTOP TIMES Hilltop TIMES 9 June 27, 2013 F-35 is the backbone of Air Force's future fighter fleet, Welsh says BY MASTER SGT. ANGELITA COLON-FRANCIA Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs W ASHINGTON, D.C. — The Air Force's most advanced strike aircraft, the F-35 Lightning II, is a vital capability that the nation needs to stay ahead of adversary technological gains, the Air Force chief of staff told a Senate panel, June 19. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said air superiority is critical to the nation's security and how the U.S. military plans to fight. "The air superiority this nation has enjoyed for 60 years is not an accident, and gaining and maintaining it is not easy," Welsh said. "It requires trained, proficient and ready Airmen and it requires credible, capable and technologically superior aircraft. I believe the F-35 is essential to ensuring we can provide that air superiority in the future." The F-35 is an unprecedented fifth generation fighter combining stealth technology with fighter speed and agility, fully integrated sensors and network enabled operations, and state-of-theart avionics. However, design issues and production costs have put the F-35 program in real jeopardy. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall told the committee he believes those concerns have been addressed. "The department's and my focus has been on the efforts to control costs on the program, and to achieve a more stable design so that we could increase the production rate to more economical quantities," Kendall testified. "Indications at this time are that these efforts are succeeding." The Air Force intends to use a portion of the proposed fiscal 2014 budget to support current defense strategic JIM VARHEGYI/U.S. Air Force Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh Ill (center), answers a question posed to him from a subcommittee member during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., on June 19. The subcommittee met to receive testimony on the F-35 Lightning II, Joint Strike Fighter fiscal year 2014 budget request. During the hearing, Welsh talked about the importance of the aircraft for national security and helping provide air superiority for Joint operations. Along with Welsh providing testimony were: Frank Kendall, Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; U.S. Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations (left); Gen. John M. Paxton Jr., Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps (right); and U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan, Program Executive Officer for the Department of Defense's F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office. guidance and modernization programs like the F-35. "Potential adversaries are acquiring fighters on par with or better than our legacy fourth generation fleet," Welsh told the committee. "They're developing sophisticated early warning radar systems and employing better surface-toair missile systems, and this at a time when our fighter fleet numbers about 2,000 aircraft and averages a little over 23 years of age — the smallest and the oldest in the Air Force's history." Welsh said America needs the F-35 to stay a step ahead and to "make sure the future fight is an away game and to minimize our risk to our ground forces when conflict inevitably does occur." "The F-35 is the only real, viable option to form the backbone of our future fighter fleet," he said. "The F-35 remains the best platform to address the proliferation of highly capable integrated air defenses and new air-to-air threats." Joint strike fighter on track and costs coming down, Kendall reports BY JIM GARAMONE American Forces Press Service W SENIOR AIRMAN DANIEL HUGHES/U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Natasha Libby, 66th Rescue Squadron aerial gunner, stands next to an HH-60 Pave Hawk June 20, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Libby is the only female among more than 30 gunners assigned to the 66th RQS. Lone female gunner aims high BY SENIOR AIRMAN DANIEL HUGHES 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs N ELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — Fresh out of training, the only female aerial gunner assigned to the 66th Rescue Squadron arrived on base. After graduating from East Valley High School in 2010, Airman 1st Class Natasha Libby said she realized she couldn't afford college. She found a job at a sandwich shop where she worked for 11 months. During that time, an Army recruiter contacted her about joining. Libby said she developed a desire to leave her hometown of Yakima, Wash., and become something more. "I realized I wasn't going anywhere, ... so I made the choice to pursue a career in the Air Force," she said. She went to an Air Force recruiter, hoping to start a career that would be interesting and fulfill her childhood dream of flying. Initially, Libby was designated to be an aircraft environmental systems apprentice. But two months before shipping out for basic training, her recruiter asked if she would like to be an aerial gunner. "I was stoked," Libby said. "I thought that was the coolest job ever. I might have been excited, but my family had mixed emotions. My father was very proud, and my mother was scared." While many see moving away from home for the first time as an obstacle, Libby saw it as a new beginning, providing her the opportunity to make the change in her life that she wanted. During training, she learned how to handle a weapon while flying, how to use different radios and how to survive during a crash or mishap. "I was introduced to Libby in aerial gunner school at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas," said Air Force Airman 1st Class Kevin Lerner, a fellow 66th RQS aerial gunner. "From the day I met Libby, I could tell she was a natural leader and someone who you could count on. She always had her nose in the books, trying to learn as much as she could about the subject we were learning at any given time." Libby operates weapons systems on an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter, but that is not her only responsibility. She also briefs passengers on safety and procedures and performs in-flight maintenance of airborne weapons systems. Libby said she is dedicated to mastering her craft so that when a real-world mission comes, she will excel at the highest level. Being a woman never has added pressure, she said, but instead has given her motivation to work harder. "Something I learned during training is I can achieve my goals as long as I use my mind," she said. "Everyone had to work hard during training, but I feel being a female I had to work a little harder to maintain the same level or better than the males in my class." Growing up on a cattle farm, Libby said, she grew physically and mentally tough at a young age. The See LIBBY I page 10 ASHINGTON — Indications are that the F-35 joint strike fighter program — the most expensive aviation program in Defense Department history — is on track, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics told a Senate panel June 19. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, Frank Kendall said the F-35 will be the premier strike aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. "The department's and my focus has been on the efforts to control costs on the program, and to achieve a more stable design so that we could increase the production rate to more economical quantities," Kendall told the senators. "Indications at this time are that these efforts are succeeding." The program, begun in President George W. Bush's administration, is about 90 percent through the development program and 40 percent through flight testing. Kendall said he anticipates being able to complete the development effort within the planned cost and schedule. "However, we may need to make some adjustments as events unfold," he added. "On the whole, however, the F-35 design today is much more stable than it was two or three years ago." Production of the aircraft was in real jeopardy in 2011 amid uncertainty in how design issues would be solved, the undersecretary said. "The F-35 is one of the most concurrent programs I have ever seen, meaning that there is a high degree of overlap between the development phase and the production phase of the program," he said. Kendall said he believes those questions have been answered, and he told the committee he will review the program later this year to decide whether to increase the production rate significantly in 2015, as is currently planned. "At this point, I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to do so," he said. Costs per aircraft are coming down, Kendall said. "Since 2010, production costs have been stable and are coming down, ... roughly consistent with our estimates," he said. "We have been tightening the terms of production contracts." The aircraft builder, Lockheed-Martin, is required to share costs associated with design changes due to concurrency, and the Defense Department is negotiating the next two buys. "In these lots, and all future lots, Lockheed will bear all of the risks of overruns," Kendall said. "At this point we have a solid understanding of the production costs, and believe that they are under control." The undersecretary said he believes sustainment costs represent the greatest opportunity to reduce life cycle costs of the F-35 going forward. "We are now focused on ways to introduce competition, and to take creative steps to lower those costs as well," he said. "The bottom line is that since 2010, we have been making steady progress to complete development, stabilize the design, and control costs." Much remains to be done with the program, and surprises may still happen, Kendall acknowledged, but he added that he is "cautiously optimistic that we will be able to increase production to more economical rates beginning in 2015 as planned." |
