WASHINGTON — The House’s proposed version of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act includes provisions that might push the Air Force to make available more pilot training aircraft — each old and recent — and tap the brakes on some future fighter retirements.
The bill, which the House Armed Services Committee advanced early Thursday, includes an amendment from Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, that might aim to hurry up the Air Force’s acquisition of the delayed T-7A Red Hawk training aircraft.
The committee wants a briefing by next March from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on how it would speed up procurement and fielding of the T-7 and its simulator training systems. This could include consideration of speeding up a Milestone C production decision, identification of additional authorities or resources that might be needed, and a listing of what is likely to be holding the Air Force back from accelerating the timeline, the amendment said.
The Boeing-made T-7, which has struggled with safety problems and schedule and testing delays, is now expected to achieve initial operational capability in spring 2027, three years later than originally planned.
And with the T-7 years away from training recent pilots, the Air Force will keep flying longer the older T-38 Talon, which the T-7 is supposed to interchange.
However the T-38 can also be suffering from an ongoing shortage of its J85 engines, and lawmakers raised concerns over its consequences. These engine backlogs are worsening the Air Force’s current pilot shortfall, the bill says, since it restricts what number of sorties the T-38 can fly and the number of recent pilots the service can train.
The bill would require a briefing from Kendall by the tip of January 2024 on the status of the T-38 fleet and its engines. This briefing should include airworthiness and readiness rates for the T-38 and its engines, a strategic maintenance plan for the T-38 and knowledge on how the T-7′s delays have affected the Talon and the way the Air Force plans to extend the variety of sorties the T-38 can fly to provide more pilots.
An amendment to the bill would also restrict the Air Force’s ability to retire F-16 Fighting Falcon jets until the service provides more information on its future plans for the fighters, although the Air Force shouldn’t be planning to retire F-16s in 2024.
Lawmakers want Kendall to send them a report spelling out any plans to divest F-16C or D fighters in the course of the most up-to-date future years defense program. And starting in 2024, the Air Force wouldn’t have the ability to divest or prepare to divest any of those fighters until six months after the delivery of this report, the amendment said.
An amendment from Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, would also prevent the Air Force from ending the fighter mission of any Air National Guard fighter squadrons until 180 days after submitting a plan for recapitalizing all such squadrons.
This plan should lay out options for modernizing these guard fighter squadrons and replacing their aircraft with relevant and more capable fighters, the amendment said, and be certain that each squadron has the required minimum variety of fighters to satisfy the needs of combatant commanders.
The amendment also said the plan should consider temporarily reassigning fighters from other components of the Air Force to the guard squadrons, when crucial. Lawmakers also wish to hear what funding could be needed to place this plan in place.
And the bill would proceed to stop the Air Force from using any funds to terminate, or get able to terminate, the production line for the HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopter.
The Air Force originally planned to purchase 113 of the Sikorsky-made HH-60Ws. But because the service grew concerned a standard search-and-rescue helicopter could be too easily shot down in a highly contested combat zone in a future war, the service sought to reduce that total purchase to 75, with the ultimate 10 procurements in 2023.
Lawmakers last 12 months bumped up the Air Force’s planned HH-60W procurement by one other 10 helicopters and moved to stop the service from winding down its production line. If this provision again makes it into law, it might hold open the potential of constructing more Whiskeys, because the helicopter is nicknamed.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.