We’re still a week away from the official rollout of the Pentagon’s budget, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel provided an extensive preview of the major decisions in a press conference yesterday. He made particularly interesting pronouncements on the F-35, Global Hawk, and Littoral Combat Ship programs:
Littoral Combat Ship: Hagel officially lowered the boom on the Littoral Combat Ship program, confirming recent reports that the Navy would cut 20 ships from its buy and only purchase 32 of the vessels. The defense secretary said he was concerned the Navy was relying “too heavily” on the LCS to achieve long-term goals for ship numbers. Hagel questioned the whether the LCS had the protection and firepower to be an effective warship. As a result, he is directing the Navy to look into a “capable and lethal small surface combatant” and expects to have a proposal in time for next year’s budget submission. All is not lost for LCS builders Austal and Lockheed Martin: in addition to the 32 ships, the new frigate-like vessel could simply be a modified LCS, resulting in more orders down the line of the ship — if not the mission packages that go with it.
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: It’s clear that support at the Pentagon for the F-35 program remains unwavering. Hagel announced that rather than risk more disruption to the F-35 program, the Air Force will can the A-10 fleet to protect its investments. Retiring the A-10 would save $3.5 billion over five years, Hagel said, and would accelerate the service’s plan to replace A-10s with F-35s in the early 2020s. That said, not even Pentagon leadership can fully protect the program if sequestration stays in place, Hagel warned. In that scenario, the Defense Department would have to trim purchases of F-35s by 24 aircraft through fiscal 2019, and the Navy would have to halt procurement of the carrier variant of the aircraft for two years — no small hit to the program indeed.
RQ-4 Global Hawk: It appears that the Pentagon has come around to Congress’ way of thinking on the Block 30 Global Hawk program, deciding to retire aging U-2s instead of the RQ-4. Hagel called the decision a “close call,” but in recent years, the Pentagon “has been able to reduce the Global Hawk’s operating costs.” The fiscal 2014 defense authorization act included a provision prohibiting the Air Force from using funds to retire Global Hawks, demanding that the Air Force “take all actions necessary” to keep the RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk flying through 2016. The appropriations act also included a provision expressing support for the program and directing the Air Force to maintain the operational capability of the aircraft.