B-21

WASHINGTON: Oops. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James sounded a tad peeved and seemed to pretty much put the kibosh on plans to buy two replacements for the A-10 Close Air Support (CAS) plane.

Why? “You just put your finger on it. Where do we get the money,” she told me at a DefenseOne event this morning when I asked about the nascent push to buy 250 prop-driven aircraft for “permissive” environments as well as the AX-2, designed to fly in the face of higher-tech opposition in the form of surface-to-air missiles and other opposition. The AX-2 is the standard part of the plan to replace the A-10, which the Air Force has pushed to retire for several years.

“For sure, it’s pre-decisional,” James said, noting she knew nothing about the plans until she read news stories about it. When your boss distances herself from it, that is, of course, rarely a good sign for an effort to spend more new money. James was also careful to say she “was not worried at all” that this would cast doubt on whether F-35 would perform CAS effectively.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, fervent supporter of the A-10, issued a statement about the Air Force move

“The Air Force should not expect support in Congress for the divestment of the A-10 until a replacement reaches full operational capability and the Air Force proves that the new aircraft can provide our soldiers, special operators, and JTACs equally effective close air support,” the New Hampshire senator said. “I will not support the premature divestment of the A-10 that will create a close air support capability gap and put the lives of our troops in additional danger.” Translation. Fuggedaboutit.

In other news, James shed the Air Force’s earlier reticence about campaigning for a special account to fund its portions of the nuclear triad, the B-21 bomber and the ICBM fleet.  “Certainly, I’m in favor if it’s done for one leg of triad, the submarine force, it ought to be done for the two other legs,” James said. The Air Force shift may be in part because the Congressional Budget Office found that a congressional fund for the Ohio Replacement Program could save hundreds of millions of dollars, as Breaking D readers know.

Whether authorizers and appropriators would be comfortable placing all funding for the nuclear triad in special funds such as the one for the ORP remains to be seen.

Finally, James said the next phase of the T-X trainer RFP process should go out this afternoon, with the final RFP out by the end of the year.