OPENING REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN TURNER

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled “Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request for Combat Aviation Programs.” For testimony and to watch the hearing click here.  

"The subcommittee meets today to review Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps combat aviation programs and the fiscal year 2019 budget request.

I would like to welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses: 

• Vice Admiral Paul Grosklags, Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command;

• Lieutenant General Steven Rudder, Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Aviation;

• Rear Admiral Scott Conn, Director of the Navy’s Air Warfare Division; 

• Lieutenant General Arnold Bunch, Military Deputy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition; and

• Lieutenant General Jerry Harris, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Programs, and Requirements.  

I thank all of you for your service and look forward to your testimony today. 

This hearing continues the subcommittee’s ongoing oversight of combat aviation modernization and represents the third hearing the subcommittee has held this year alone on this topic.  

Last year when the Subcommittee held this hearing on the fiscal year 2018 budget request, we heard how years of continuous combat operations and deferred modernization had created a crisis in military readiness.

The balanced budget agreement signed by the President in February and the Fiscal Year 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act will help provide much needed stability and relief. Combined with the fiscal year 2019 budget request, the military services should be able to begin digging out of this hole. 

Our witnesses today have been asked to identify their top five modernization requirements for the combat aviation portfolio and briefly summarize how this budget request helps to restore full spectrum readiness. 

We also expect the witnesses to articulate how these requirements are aligned with the goals and objectives of the new National Defense Strategy. 

We expect to examine a broad range of issues today that I’ll highlight later in this statement, but first I want to address some issues brought to my attention by F-35 pilots and maintainers at Hill Air Force Base when I traveled there last week.

The pilots were very concerned about their visual acuity during night refueling operations using the F-35 pilot helmet, describing the situation as a safety issue.  

The pilots also stated that Navy pilots conducting night aircraft carrier landings in the F-35C and Marine Corps F-35B conducting night landings on amphibious ships have a similar safety concern.  

The maintenance personnel are still very disappointed in the autonomic logistics information system, or ALIS. They continue to have to use manual workarounds that take time and effort, resulting in lower aircraft availability and mission capable rates. 

I’d like for each of the witnesses to address these concerns and strongly urge each of you to work with the F-35 program office to get these items fixed.

I’ll just briefly touch on a few other key areas that we expect to cover this afternoon.

Regarding F-35A production. The subcommittee would like to better understand the rationale for this year’s F-35A request which amounts to 48 aircraft and why there is no real significant increase given last year’s unfunded requirement for 14 additional aircraft. General Harris, you testified before this Subcommittee last year and stated that quote 'the Air Force needs to increase F-35A procurement to a minimum of 60 aircraft per year as quickly as possible.' End quote. I would also note that three years ago, the Air Force planned to procure 60 F-35As in fiscal year 2019. 

Regarding Physiological Episodes. We continue to be concerned by the increased rates of physiological episodes occurring in Navy and Air Force aircraft. We recognize the work that is being done to mitigate these events but remain concerned about the overall progress made in determining a root cause. This is a good opportunity for the witnesses to provide some detail into how this budget request supports mitigation efforts. 

Regarding Aviation Readiness and Strike Fighter Inventories. It’s my understanding the Navy continues to absorb risk in its management of the strike fighter inventory. I understand the Navy has submitted a request for F/A-18 multiyear procurement authorization, which if authorized, should make the procurement of Super Hornets more efficient and less costly. 

Last year the Navy and Marine Corps continued to fall short the number of ready basic aircraft. We’ll look to better understand what efforts are currently underway to mitigate potential strike fighter shortfalls and improve readiness. 

Regarding Training aircraft. The Subcommittee continues to have concerns regarding the overall age of the training aircraft fleet. I believe if we’re fielding 5th generation aircraft then we should be fielding a 5th generation trainer. I look forward to hearing an update on the Air Force’s next generation trainer, the T-X program. 

Regarding munitions. While I’m pleased to see many critical munition programs are being kept at maximum production in the budget request, I am concerned that years of under-investment has created shortfalls in munition inventories that are being exacerbated by current operations. We need to better understand the challenges you currently face with managing munition programs as well as this critical industrial base. 

Finally, let there be no doubt that we are experiencing a crisis in military readiness and we must address this now. 

More U.S. military service members have died in aircraft mishaps over the past year than have died while serving in Afghanistan. 

Over the last three and a half weeks we have witnessed a series of aviation accidents where 16 service-members have tragically lost their lives. One of those service-members was a constituent of mine. Gunnery Sergeant Derik Holley was a 33-year old enlisted Marine and he was killed while conducting training missions in a CH-53E helicopter, a helicopter that has been in service since the 1970s. 

Many of these tragic events are a result of lack of training hours due to constrained resources and/or the current state of aging equipment; all of which resulted from years of underfunding our military, and clearly shows the magnitude of the problem we are dealing with. This is why we have fought so hard to raise the Department’s topline budget request.

We have to do whatever it takes to ensure that our aircraft are safe and that pilots get the training they need."