The U.S. Air Force has launched a two-month review of all of its programs to determine whether some of them are no longer needed, according to a service official.

Air Force Undersecretary Matthew Donovan (Air Force photo)
Air Force Undersecretary Matthew Donovan (Air Force photo)

The review, which began Jan. 16 and is scheduled to end March 15, is meant to go beyond the annual budget process, which typically focuses on changes from the previous year, Air Force Undersecretary Matthew Donovan said Jan. 18. The results will influence planning for fiscal year 2020.

The Air Force has not conducted a similar effort in more than 20 years.

“It’s time to now do a reset,” Donovan told reporters after speaking at an Air Force Association breakfast. “Let’s take a look at all our programs, make sure that everything is still relevant, that we’re spending money the way we want to spend it, not just because it’s just passing from year to year. I don’t expect major changes, but I think it will provide some visibility into what we’re doing.”

Turning to aviation, Donovan warned that development of the B-21 Raider bomber will be forced to slow down in about two months, or at the end of March, if Congress does not pass an FY 2018 defense appropriations bill.

The Air Force requested $2 billion for the program in FY 2018, but because the government has been operating under a series of continuing resolutions for almost four months, the program currently can spend only at the $1.3 billion level approved for FY 2017.

“Once you get to about six months [of CRs], then it’s going to start affecting” the program, he said. “It starts slowing down the program because you’re running out of money.”

The Air Force wants to begin fielding the B-21 in the mid-2020s. Northrop Grumman [NOC] is the B-21’s prime contractor.

The current CR expires Jan. 19. The House was expected to vote late Jan. 18 on a new CR that would last through Feb. 16 (Defense Daily, Jan. 17, 2018).

Donovan also said that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein are reviewing a report on last summer’s light-attack aircraft experiment at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The Air Force has been studying whether such aircraft could serve as a low-cost supplement to its fighter jets.

“I suspect that will have a decision pretty soon on the path forward,” Donovan said.

Four industry-provided aircraft flew during the experiment. The head of Air Combat Command said in September that the next step could be a combat demonstration (Defense Daily, Sept. 18, 2017).

Turning to space, Donovan said the Air Force’s FY 2019 budget request, which is due to be released in early February, will include a funding increase for space capabilities, building on the 20 percent hike contained in the FY 2018 request. The FY 2019 request will reflect the recently completed National Defense Strategy, which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is scheduled to publicly unveil Jan. 19.

Donovan also said “the Air Force still has confidence in SpaceX and their launch capabilities” despite the apparent failure of a mission to place the classified Zuma spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Zuma was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Jan. 7 for an undisclosed U.S. government agency.

SpaceX has insisted that its rocket performed correctly (Defense Daily, Jan. 9). Northrop Grumman, which built Zuma, has declined to comment.