Multiyear missile buys would stabilize industry

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon needs to offer the defense industry a more consistent demand signal on what number of missiles, munitions and spare parts corporations might want to construct, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown said on Wednesday.

Two ways the Pentagon can provide that steadier business include multiyear procurements for weapons and greater use of predictive maintenance, Brown said during a discussion with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Brown said the military has focused too little keeping a gentle flow of munitions production and procurement. “In some cases, since you don’t have a threat on your step, munitions aren’t possibly high on our priority list,” he said.

But with the threat now posed by China and Russia, “that’s different now,” he added.

“That is an area that we’ve got to proceed to concentrate to, to be sure that we bring [munitions] along as well,” said Brown, who President Joe Biden last month nominated to be the following chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He cited the Korea readiness review, which the military conducted during his tenure as Pacific Air Forces commander, examining what could be obligatory to counter a threat from North Korea for instance of the form of advance munitions planning that must happen. A part of that review, Brown said, was to “look really hard at munitions.”

Brown reiterated the Air Force’s call in its proposed fiscal 2024 budget for multiyear procurements for 3 key weapons: the Raytheon Technologies-made AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, and the Lockheed Martin-made Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Prolonged Range in addition to the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile.

Air Force officials said in March throughout the budget’s unveiling that the service wanted to make use of about $1 billion so industry could procure long-lead items for those weapons, in addition to other steps that might send a longer-term demand signal to industry. The FY23 National Defense Authorization Act granted the Air Force the authority to make those multiyear purchases.

The Air Force’s proposed FY24 budget would roughly double its overall spending on missiles, from $2.3 billion in FY23 to $4.7 billion.

The Pentagon can also be looking for lawmakers’ approval to conduct multiyear buys of Raytheon’s Patriot surface-to-air guided missile system and Lockheed’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, fired from the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. The U.S. government has provided those weapons to Ukraine because it fights off a Russian invasion.

And if the military wants industry to have the option to surge munitions production capability in an emergency, Brown said, it must make such multiyear buys an everyday a part of the way it does business. That way, industry could have a more reliable demand signal and might keep its production lines flowing.

“I consider that’s only a start,” Brown said, referring to the multiyear buys within the FY24 budget request. “We’ve got to take a look at multiyear procurements in order that it helps give a predictable demand signal to industry. And it’s not only the prime [contractors], it’s all of the subs below them so that they even have supply chains laid in, they’re [set up with the proper facilities], they’ve the workforce, and it’s not just a little bit up and down and unpredictability.”

Brown also said it’s going to be vital to make sure allies and partners have access to those munitions — and that industry can construct enough to maintain each them and the US armed.

“It’s great for them to have the airplanes, but they’ve also got to have the munitions which might be capable,” Brown said. “How can we make certain that we now have enough munitions on the shelf to support us and our allies and partners? That is something that we want to give attention to.”

Brown said the digital engineering of munitions will make it easier to take a more modular approach to constructing some weapons, much like the way in which recent aircraft, akin to the B-21 Raider, use a modular architecture.

Brown also said the Air Force’s desire to conduct more predictive, conditions-based maintenance on aircraft — where maintainers track how long parts have been on an airplane and take a look at to exchange them before they wear out and break — could also help provide a steadier demand signal for industry.

“With data, you recognize based on the service lifetime of this part how long before it’s going to interrupt,” Brown said. “You don’t wait until it breaks. You’re able to exchange it just a little bit sooner, which also will help create the demand signal for the availability chain.”

Brown said the Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office has been looking closely at ways to make use of maintenance data to not only determine when maintainers should replace parts, but additionally to assist industry predict the way it needs to administer its supply chains.