US Air Force Readiness is in Peril

Posted by Roger O'Daniel on May 20, 2014 at 8:54pm
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This afternoon (May 20, 2014), Lt. General Charles R. Davis spoke to us in a conference call from his office at the Pentagon, Washington D.C. He is the Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. He is responsible for research and development, test, production, and modernization of Air Force programs worth more than $40 billion annually. Here is a link to his complete bio.
http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/104635/lieutenant-general-charles-r-davis.aspx
He began with a commentary about the lawsuit with Space-x over a launch rocket contract. The US Air Force awarded a multi-year contract to a competitor instead of an annual contract. It was a “block buy” for 30 launchers that saved the Air Force about $2 billion. The competitor met the certification standards. Space-X did not meet certification standards even after a one year waiver to do so. This contract had nothing to do with the NASA relationship with Space-X. The Air Force refused to budge on the certification requirement because they did not want to lose any more satellite payloads like they did in the early days of the GPSS system.
General Davis also commented about the Russian refusal to ship any more rockets to the USA. This began with the end of the cold war in the 1990’s after the breakup of the USSR. The US, Russia, Japan, China and others chose to cooperate with each other instead of compete with each other in the development of the international space station program.
These countries shared technology and hardware. Instead of building our own rocket, we bought rocket launchers from Russia to save both nations money in production costs. The US had the Atlas rocket as a backup. We thought we needed to replace the satellites after 5 years of service. Instead, we discovered that they are still running with 22 years of service. Ergo, we did not need as many rockets as we thought. As a result, we have a two-year supply of Russian rockets on hand with a backup plan. We also have the avionics to convert Space-X rockets into astronaut carriers in case Russia decides to refuse to ferry US astronauts to the space station. This is a NASA issue, not an Air Force issue. However, the Air Force is there to help NASA with advice and counsel if asked.
He dealt with a lot of questions asked by the conference callers. Some of them were of regional scope. Others were “off the record” responses that reflected personal opinion because he could not represent the Air Force in these matters. What follows are my own observations as inspired by the dialog with all callers, not just General Davis.
Congress is micro-managing the Air Force with brutal cuts in their budget. Waivers needed now to avoid a breach of current contractual commitments are borrowed from future budgets defined by sequestration. The Air Force is trying to spend wisely and well with what they have to work with, but are hamstrung by Congressional refusal to let the Air Force cut aircraft inventory and base realignment so they can maintain readiness and avoid technological obsolescence.
Some congressional leaders are willing to learn and understand through dialog; others are not disposed to listen to anything the US Military has to say. As long as the micro-management persists, the US Military, including the Air Force, will be unable to meet its defense obligations as it is forced to spend money in the wrong places. There is another hidden beast within this financial quagmire . . . inflation of the currency by:

  • Continued deficit spending,
  • Federal Reserve Bank (FED) monetary policy, and
  • The decline in the use of the US dollar as the preferred reserve currency for international trade.

This will increase the cost of military infrastructure in future years while sequestration remains in current dollars. In other words, Air Force money will buy less in future years because its budget will be worth less in future years.

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