[inaudible conversations] >> the committee will come to order. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] members who are virtually are responsible for -- [inaudible] i notice and may say something -- [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] this year's budget request for the air force is making large bets on future technology and capabilities coupled with a bold plan to do best, a bold plan to divest legacy aircraft systems over the next five years, and that is a bold plan and i'm with you on that. and then there is about wave of nuclear modernization which is putting pressure on modernizing the conventional forces. this pressure will continue throughout the current five-year plan and beyond. this result is that the air forceha is trading near term capacity for what hopefully will be successful investments and capabilities needed to meet the growing challenge from china here and as president biden stated this week, this administration is tackling inflation. as the rest of the services department of air force is not only not a need to inflation but i but i know you gentlemen will be carefully scrutinizing how we can keepti costs down in your budget and make sure any inflationla is truly inflation o the requests that are being made. fy '23 budget request for space force reflects an increase of 30% over the fy '22 enacted level here some of this growth is due the establishment of a new military personnel account which was previously included in the air force budget and was planned to be transferred to the space development agency into space force. however, even after adjusting for these transfers, space force budget increases substantial, about 18% here with these increases comes more responsibility to spend the fundson effectively and efficiently to deliver operational useful capabilities. we would like an update on the progress made in fixing space acquisition and bringing greater discipline to delivering systeme on schedule and within the budget. i would also like to congratulate mr. frank who was recently confirmed by the senate to serve as assistant secretary of the airho force who also serd as the first ever space acquisition executive. we really welcome his expertise. we wish him well. i would also like to take a second to think all the men and women who serve on your commands in the air force in space force for their daily diligence and hard work and service to our country. i would also like to note for our members that we will be here holding a classified briefing with secretary kendall immediately isaiah to announce depending upon vote after the string. so i would like to turn to ranking member calvert for his opening remarks. mr. calvert. >> thank you, madam chair. i want to thank each of the witnesses for bringing appearing for us today. we're grateful for a continued service in the service of those under your command. i look forward to working with each of you to properly fund and equip our airmen and guardsmen. i'm deeply troubled by the administration week request for defense. as a look around the world we see evolving threats, rapid technology changes, more capable adversaries. this requires more resources. some aspects of the requests are encouraging such as the air force privatization of nuclear modernization. however, i question many other aspects including the divestment of legacy systems. again the air force is looking to reduce its forced fort including capable platforms like the f-22, awacs and a tin. it were to proceed with these requests this committee needs a better understanding of how we can meet the threat environment with a reduced inventory. i am also pleased to see the space force continue to grow its capabilities as we on the subcommittee know nearly all our military n operations rely on a continued dominance in space. general raymond i look forward to hearing how you are working to right size and shape the force. throughout this year we have heard testimony from our geographic combatant commanders. i continued to be extremely concerned that the services and the air force in particular are failing to prioritize the a war fighting needs of our coal comes.un like the three of you i'm an advocate for accelerating change and accepting risk to do so. i'm encouraged by the advanced manufacturing software first approach youh are taking for the next-generation systems. however, we cannot overlook urgent war fighting needs to instead divert funding to untested and unproven systems. hope is not a planning strategy, as my old man used to say. it certainly will not enable a capable response to any type of conflict that may break out around the globe. before i close i must reiterate my concerned about how inflation is eating into the dod's buying power. though everyone saw it coming, the levels ofio inflation your data with today are the worst we've seen in decades. even worse, we w do not know wht it would be once we pass the fy '23 bill. shot price increases in fuel, shipping costs, and other consumer goods will have a disastrous effect on your ability to train. i am a big supporter of the use of augmented and virtual reality training, but pilots need to fly real missions against real pilots. i sawaw the air force just canceled a large contract for adversarial air. i would like you to get me the justification for this, and your training replacement plan going forward. as you know on june 30, 2020, my constituent lieutenant david schmitz tragically lost his life during a training mission at shaw air force base. david's death is a painful reminder of what we risk with limited flight hours and insufficient training. it's clear that more work is necessary to ensure this doesn't happen again and that our servicemembers don't pay the price for a shrinking budget. it's critical we work together to provide adequate resources tt fully fund weapon systems operations and training. again thank you again for taking the time to be with us. with that, madam chair, i yield back. >> thank you, mr. calvert. ms. granger, as ranking full member of the chair of the committee would you like to make an opening statement? statement? >> thank you, chair. i want to thank each of the witnesses for appearing before us today. i look forward to hearing from you about how the air force and space force are preparing for both current and future conflicts. i want to begin by restating my serious concern about the inadequacy's defense spending. inflation is dramatically on the budget proposal fails to provide the funds needed to maintain and modernize our military. looking at this year's request, it's clear that the air force wants to retire older systems to fund new ones this needs to be done in a thoughtful manner. we must be prepared for future conflicts and we should not do what that is in our current needs. as the war in ukraine has shown us, it's critical of the united states as war fighting inventory that's flexible, capable and ready and we must protect our strategic advantages in the air and space. as we develop this year's bill. i look forward to working with all of you to ensure that our airmen and guardsmen have the tools they need to fulfill our national defense strategy. thank you again for taking the time to be with us today and thank you, madam chair, i yield back. >> thank you. gentlemen, we have your full testimony in front of us and members have copies of it made available to them. i'd like to have as much time as i have for members to ask your questions. so i would encourage you to please summarize your statements and i want you to be complete as you can be. and also when it comes to responding to our questions. i'd like to now proceed with the testimony, beginning with secretary kendall. >> thank you, chairman. ranking member and members of the committee. and i'm glad to have them joining me to represent the 7,000 guardians that defends our nation. we're thankful for your support over the years. speaking in 1940, general douglas macarthur said the following, the history of failure in war it almost be summed up in two words, too late. too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy, too late realizing mortal danger, too late in preparedness, too late standing with one's friends after france fell to nazi germany's offensive. and the attack on pearl harbor drew the united states into a war. and what my colleagues are trying to do and need your help with is to ensure america's air and space forces are never too late in meeting our challenge, which is china. we're concerned about the now obvious and acute threat of russian aggression. i'd like to offer the committee on the hill, that china poses more completely. i'll be summarizing that in our classified session later today. that briefing lays out china's efforts to devolve forces that can defeat the u.s.'s power in the western pacific and increasing nuclear opportunity that puts our homeland at risk. and how the air force is responding to that threat. through our fiscal year 2023 budget and through future budgets, a balance between the capabilities we need today and investments in the tran transformation. and we'll be able to support our combatant commanders and continuing campaigns that represent our resolve and our partners around the world. simultaneously, our budget represents a significant early step in the transformation of the air and space forces to the capabilities needed to provide during advantage. and an important feature of our budget request is a you be is standings increase in research and involvement funding. this investment is a down payment of production that's the same in investments and hard choices that are yet to come. we're comfortable with the balance on the budget submission and we want to ensure the committee understands that hard choices lie ahead at any budget level. we're asking for devestiture, and not against the facing challenge. she is devestments are -- divestments are necessary. and we appreciate the committee's port for the devestitures and we ask for those and change is hard, but losing is unacceptable and we cannot afford to be too late. the work we have ongoing on the department of the air force is focused on seven operational imperatives, each of which is associated with some aspect of our ability to evoke power. acts of aggression do occur and equally no doubt how devastating for the victims of that aggression and for the global community. first, if the space force is to enable its mission of the projecting the force, it must have the space arrange architecture, and we have resilient tracking and communication networks. second, efficiently integrate air and space forces as part of a highly lethal joint force for a federal management system. this budget continues for the early ongoing work that will define additional divestments to modernize our command and control communications. and third, to defeat aggression we must have the ability to hold large numbers of air and surface targets and a time compressed scenario. this funds an interim replacement. fourth our control of the air is challenged and we must proceed to affordable next generation dominance of systems. fifth. >> a resilient tactical air force. this budget continues for agri in the european reasons. assure long-term viability of our global strike capability. within this budget b-21 enters production. the department must be able to a war time posture against a competitor. and we work to ensure that america's air and space forces are never too late. one team, one fight, we welcome your questions. >> thank you very much. mr. secretary. and now general brown, please proceed. >> good morning, chair, ranking members. it's an honor to appear before you representing the service members today. and thank you for your continued support of them and their families. and the fy2023 budget. and addressing the security challenges particularly in the national defense strategy that continues to build on bigots of -- that continues to build on the fy22. if we do not continue to transform this may no longer be the case. we must continue to communicate and corroborate with key stake holders, what the nation needs for 2030 and beyond. the message has not changed from 2023. you must modernize for count ser strategic competitors and the challenges, russia remains an acute threat. balance demends of the day and requirements are tomorrow it puts soldiers, sailors, marines, guardians and airmen and partners at risk. it places our aability to place air power anytime at risk. in the air force and the nation will be successful between today and tomorrow is collaborate. collaborate is the critical word. we're beginning our collaboration efforts towards the transition for the future. this is to restructure and investment in systems and and concepts, we've been successful for systems that are incre increasingly for the threats. we did not do this alone. starting changes and impetus behind the air force operation, doing so with urgency and in the right direction. when you combine the operation and the national defense strategy you see in this year's budget is alignment with what our nation demands of our air force. the air force we have is integrated deterrence, nuclear deterrence assures budgets and our nuclear portfolios are fully funded. how air forces campaign, deployed air force assets within days, sharing vital information with our partners. during the advantages that allow us to defend the homeland, project our power globally and joint allied and partner force. more than anyone, i want tomorrow's airmen to be ready when responsibility calls. as united states air force celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. we will be one that they're proud of. i'm certain that we'll need air power anytime anywhere and certain this year's budget is another step to transformation of the air force and i'm certain there is more work that needs to be done therefore communicate, collaborate so we can ak set rate-- accelerate change. thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. >> thank you. general raymond, please proceed. >> -- it's an honor to appear. thank you for your continued leadership and strong support of guardians and their families. as we testify before you today we find our self at a strategy inflection point. russia and challenge from china. information derived from space, including commercial imagery has been instrumental in dominating the information environment, communicating with forces and detecting missile threats. it's clear that the character of war has changed and space is foundational to that change. however, russia's recent direct anti-satellite missile test last november is just the latest efforts to deny what space provides. and just as china is integrating space into military operations to detect, track, target, strike the joint force putting our sailors, soldiers, marines, and guardians in air and sea at risk. our joint forces will remain at risk until we can complete the transformation to resilient space architecture and protect the joint force from space from attacks. this is critical to supporting all aspects of the national defense strategy, intergreated deterrents, campaigning and building enduring advantage. to remain the world's leader in space, this president's budget requests prioritizes space and 24.5 billion to assure access to and freedom to maneuver in space. the largest share is research and testing evaluation fund, almost 16 billion for our forces, to pivot to more resilient missile warning and missile tracking force design. normally this including funding for the space development agency which is included in the space force budget for the first time this year. in contrast to legacy, this is to survive gracefully under attack. manage escalation and be rapidly reconstituted. and this transformation will allow us to focus more fully on two of our advantages, our commission industries and allies and partners. to increase readiness, we have operational test and training infrastructure. that assures the capability in orbit in the hands of operating in a contested domain. robust testing is critical to fueling our next generation systems. other key investments, including for weapons systems sustainment and global positioning systems and next generation satellite and communication. and finally and importantly we invest in guardians and their families and we've overhauled how we recruit, divest, deploy and take care of guardians. resilient space power isn't just about satellites, it's also about guardians. this is one of the reasons why we're seeing the integration of active duty and resever of forces into a single hybrid component structure. this component is central to our human capital plan and allows us to divest, and working with this committee for this bold and transformational post. and the secretary mentioned changing heart and losing is unacceptable. this is essential to protecting the joint force and for the security and space. thank you for your leadership and support of our space force. it's an honor to appear before you and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you all. for members who have just come in we're going to adhere to the five minute rule as we don't know when folks are going to be called for, all of us asking questions today. gentlemen, as you know delivering space systems on time and on budget has been a challenge for quite some time. an example, gps ground control segment. more than six years late and 70% over budget. gps hand sets for war fighters behind schedule. the system was delivered nine years late and $15 billion over budget. so fixing acquisitions, one of the primary reasons why the space force was created. so secretary kendall, you and i will have an opportunity to talk later today so i'm going to focus on space force. we need to make sure the overall space force five-year budget is executable and affordable. the next five-year budget estimate is basically flat, rising a bit in 2024 before falling below the 2023 proposed budget level. secretary kendall and general brown, do you feel that the fy23 request and then the out year projections reflect what will actually take to deliver successful acquisitions and programs? there are significant budget shortfalls that you're an i wear of over the next few years and if so, what programs can be put at risk. space force believes it could carry out the flat budget, reprioritizing current activities and if so, what would you prioritize? >> secretary kendall, and then general raymond. >> it's a great question. i think it's a very perceptive one. the transformation that i talked about and the difficult choices are related to what you just asked me. we are starting a transformation of our capabilities in space with the missile warning, ak tch architectures and we're work to go define the other needs, both to provide the services and enable the joint force in space and also to protect the joint force from possible attack, based on targeting by our enemies in space. we have a lot of work to do there, but we're off to a solid start. i do not anticipate that future budgets will remain flat or go down for the space force, quite the opposite. we still have the define the requirements and programs we put in place are for success and we don't have cost overruns. we want to avoid that. there are opportunities through emerging technologies and commercial best practices that i think will make that possible, but we are going to have to be disciplined and smart how we invest in space. i think that's the picture that we see coming, okay? at this point, i think the 23 budget does a good start. gives us a good start towards those types of architectures and gives us the resources and decide what steps we need to take. >> yes, ma'am, i agree wholeheartedly with secretary kendall. we've still got work to do. and we've got a great force design and the de