By Emelie Rutherford
A chief defense appropriator said yesterday he is not backing down from trying to compel a split buy of the Air Force tanker in the upcoming supplemental war-spending bill, delayed legislation in which he also wants to fund a Navy surveillance aircraft.
House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) told reporters he was finalizing a proposal for a dual procurement of the aerial-refueling tanker from contract competitors Boeing [BA] and a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) team.
Murtha said he hopes to explain his plan to both competitors and garner the support of high-profile foes of a tanker dual procurement, including HAC-D Vice Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
“I know (Gates is) still against it,” Murtha said. “I’ve talked with him about it. I said, ‘Well, listen to our proposal.’ And the only thing he said is, ‘Well, we want tankers as soon as we can get them.'”
Speaking after a hearing on Navy and Air Force combat aircraft, Murtha reiterated his plan to include a mandate in the next war supplemental bill for a new tanker competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, with the intent to buy aircraft from both companies. Two tankers would be purchased a month, Murtha said, and “whoever comes in with the most competitive price will get the most airplanes.”
The congressman estimated the dual competition would generate an additional cost of $2 billion “in the first couple years.” Yet he said he and HAC-D Ranking Member Bill Young (R-Fla.) “think that in the long run the billions of dollars we have to spend on development of both airplanes will be, over a 40-year period,…very cost effective.”
He noted the high cost of maintaining the existing fleet of tankers, and believes if the competition proceeds on a traditional path another protest and further delays are inevitable.
“We’re serious about the whole thing,” Murtha said.
Gates paused the long-stalled and politically charged tanker competition last September, and has said it will restart early this year. The Pentagon had pulled a February 2008 award to Northrop Grumman after auditors sustained a Boeing protest.
Gates has opposed a dual tanker procurement, saying it would cost billions of dollars more than buying one fleet of aircraft would. He last week called a dual buy “bad public policy” and “bad acquisition policy,” because it would require the Air Force to duplicate its logistics trains and training.
It is not clear just when Congress will receive the Pentagon’s proposed war supplemental for the remainder of fiscal year 2009, which ends Sept. 30. Lawmakers and aides had expected the request last week, but now say it may not arrive on Capitol Hill until next week or the following week.
Murtha pledged yesterday to pass the supplemental by Memorial Day, as defense officials have requested. The White House has said the Pentagon will request a $75.5 billion supplemental.
Murtha said he wants to add funding for the Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program, made by Northrop Grumman, to the supplemental. Congress approved funding in FY ’09 for only two of the three surveillance aircraft the service requested.
“We’re going to see, since you use this in Iraq, the Navy uses that Hawkeye, we’re going to see if we can work that out in the supplemental,” he told Navy Vice Adm. David Architzel, principal deputy assistant secretary for research, development, and acquisition.
Murtha said he regrets the $150 million for a E-2D Hawkeye was cut last year in negotiations with the Senate, when cost-savings were sought in the defense budget, and acknowledged eliminating the aircraft “destabilizes” the program.
“The Navy was upset about it at the time, I said, well reprogram something; they couldn’t find they money to reprogram it,” he told reporters, adding the aircraft is “a legitimate war-cost expense.”
Murtha said he could add one E-2D to the supplemental. Congress also reduced the Navy’s request for E-2D advance-procurement funds in FY ’09, yet he said he does not know if he will try to add those monies to the supplemental.
Murtha was not sure about a potential major part of supplemental spending: buying four F-22 stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin [LMT]. Gates previously said he would include the four jets in the supplemental request, though Murtha said he does not know if they will be in there.
The congressman told Lt. Gen. Mark Shackleford, deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force, that lawmakers want to know as soon as possible if the Pentagon will seek to buy more F-22s than the 183 on order.
A F-22 supporter, Murtha told reporters: “We have to not only be taking care of the troops today, but we’ve got to look ahead.”
Young told the Navy and Air Force officials during the hearing he is worried that “there are some in the Congress and some in the government who have stated openly that they believe that some of these aircraft that we’re talking about are Cold War relics and that we’re not going to need them again.” He added it is “absolutely essential that we are able to maintain complete control of any air over the battlefield….So you will find this subcommittee is willing to do whatever it is that we need to do to be supportive of decisions that you make.”