Time for some healthy debate...
Defense Today
April 29, 2005
Pg. 1
Jumper: Make Raptor A Joint Service Program
By Richard Mullen
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper proposed that the F/A-22 Raptor fighter aircraft program could become a program operated jointly among the armed services.
That proposal raises questions about what shape the program might take under such circumstances—including its size and budget.
Jumper voiced his proposal in his closing remarks at a presentation at the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank in Washington, and did not elaborate further on the budgetary and other implications of turning the Raptor program into a joint-service operation.
However, he presented his idea after having expressed glowing praise for the Raptor during his speech and having fielded questions about plans to cut the Raptor fleet considerably below what the Air Force says it needs.
"Big programs like the F/A-22...could be joint programs" among the armed services, Jumper said in his closing remarks, in context of his arguing in favor of more joint service coordination and sharing of resources.
Whether or not the F/A-22, an Air Force program, were to become a joint program technically, "we ought to have people [from all the services] embedded in all these [big] programs" in order to represent their services' needs, Jumper said by way of clarification.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is joint, Jumper said, so why not the F/A-22? Both are to be Lockheed Martin Corp. products.
JSF is funded equally by the Air Force and Navy, a JSF public affairs officer said, adding that eight allied countries with an interest in JSF have contributed $4.5 billion to its system development and demonstration phase. When Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems begin building JSFs, those nations are expected to purchase the plane, and other nations may buy them as well.
Jumper brought up the Raptor during his speech in the course of talking about the need for better integration of information resources in order to maximize their value to the warfighter.
Noting that he had ridden in an F/A-22 recently, he said that the information available to Raptor pilots is "amazing," and on par with what an AWACS plane can deliver. AWACS, or airborne warning and control system, is a highly sophisticated aircraft-borne radar surveillance system.
The Raptor's information systems "increase the situational awareness by hundreds of percents of orders of magnitude," Jumper said.
In response to a question, Jumper defended the Air Force's continued insistence that it needs 381 Raptors—far more than the Department of Defense (DOD) currently plans to buy.
The projected size of the Raptor fleet has changed many times over the course of the program, and the number continues to fluctuate. As of the current fiscal 2005, the Air Force is slated to acquire 277 Raptors. Going into the fiscal 2006 budgeting process, the Pentagon started talking about reducing the total to 179 Raptors. This week, in Senate testimony, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the Raptor fleet now is slated to total 170 aircraft.
Jumper said the Air Force based its 381 figure on the number it needs in order to equip its air expeditionary forces, or AEFs.
The Air Force has 10 AEFs, and needs the 381 Raptors in order to equip each AEF with one Raptor squadron apiece, with sufficient extra aircraft for purposes such as training, an Air Force spokesman said.
Jumper described the AEFs as part of an organizational structure to which the Air Force has migrated in order to become a more responsive, effective force.
Recent experience, such as showdowns with Iraq's Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, showed the Air Force that it was too Cold-War-oriented and not well enough prepared to face "contingencies," Jumper said.
Then, he said, "Here comes a big contingency we call Desert Storm, and we are fairly flat-footed. We learned some ugly things about ourselves" in terms of the Air Force's ability to adjust to new situations, he said.
So the Air Force moved toward the creation of a structure around the AEF in order to gain more flexibility and adaptability of responsiveness, he said.
The Air Force tries to look at the world of the future, in terms of defense needs, he said, but as past experience has shown, "We are absolutely lousy at predicting what that world is gonna be."
What, Jumper was asked, would be the consequences if the Air Force didn't get substantially as many Raptors as it says it needs?
"The consequences of the lower number: you go back [and] look at legacy airplanes that would replace it [the Raptor]," Jumper said.
Then it becomes a question of bang for the buck, he said.
"Look at the check you'd have to write for the F/A-22," which would come in at around $110 million per plane at this stage, because DOD already has paid for the aircraft's development work, Jumper said.
However, "the check for legacy planes" such as the F-15, which would have to fill in for those unpurchased Raptors, would come in at between $75 million and $90 million apiece, Jumper said. The F-15E currently is the foremost Air Force strike fighter aircraft.
"The question is, where do you want to spend your next dollar?" he asked rhetorically.
The Raptor is "off the charts" in terms of outperforming other aircraft, he said.
The F/A-22 Raptor has been described by Lockheed Martin Corp. as a "highly lethal and survivable aircraft" that can defeat threats that the F-15 cannot handle.
Ironically, Jumper also spoke about the need for the Air Force to move away from a platform-oriented philosophy toward "an effects-based way of thinking," and then to put that thinking into action.
"You can do effects-based thinking," he said, "but if you don't get to effects-based programming, and [apply it to] how you buy things, it won't do you any good."
Defense Today
April 29, 2005
Pg. 1
Jumper: Make Raptor A Joint Service Program
By Richard Mullen
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper proposed that the F/A-22 Raptor fighter aircraft program could become a program operated jointly among the armed services.
That proposal raises questions about what shape the program might take under such circumstances—including its size and budget.
Jumper voiced his proposal in his closing remarks at a presentation at the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank in Washington, and did not elaborate further on the budgetary and other implications of turning the Raptor program into a joint-service operation.
However, he presented his idea after having expressed glowing praise for the Raptor during his speech and having fielded questions about plans to cut the Raptor fleet considerably below what the Air Force says it needs.
"Big programs like the F/A-22...could be joint programs" among the armed services, Jumper said in his closing remarks, in context of his arguing in favor of more joint service coordination and sharing of resources.
Whether or not the F/A-22, an Air Force program, were to become a joint program technically, "we ought to have people [from all the services] embedded in all these [big] programs" in order to represent their services' needs, Jumper said by way of clarification.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is joint, Jumper said, so why not the F/A-22? Both are to be Lockheed Martin Corp. products.
JSF is funded equally by the Air Force and Navy, a JSF public affairs officer said, adding that eight allied countries with an interest in JSF have contributed $4.5 billion to its system development and demonstration phase. When Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems begin building JSFs, those nations are expected to purchase the plane, and other nations may buy them as well.
Jumper brought up the Raptor during his speech in the course of talking about the need for better integration of information resources in order to maximize their value to the warfighter.
Noting that he had ridden in an F/A-22 recently, he said that the information available to Raptor pilots is "amazing," and on par with what an AWACS plane can deliver. AWACS, or airborne warning and control system, is a highly sophisticated aircraft-borne radar surveillance system.
The Raptor's information systems "increase the situational awareness by hundreds of percents of orders of magnitude," Jumper said.
In response to a question, Jumper defended the Air Force's continued insistence that it needs 381 Raptors—far more than the Department of Defense (DOD) currently plans to buy.
The projected size of the Raptor fleet has changed many times over the course of the program, and the number continues to fluctuate. As of the current fiscal 2005, the Air Force is slated to acquire 277 Raptors. Going into the fiscal 2006 budgeting process, the Pentagon started talking about reducing the total to 179 Raptors. This week, in Senate testimony, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the Raptor fleet now is slated to total 170 aircraft.
Jumper said the Air Force based its 381 figure on the number it needs in order to equip its air expeditionary forces, or AEFs.
The Air Force has 10 AEFs, and needs the 381 Raptors in order to equip each AEF with one Raptor squadron apiece, with sufficient extra aircraft for purposes such as training, an Air Force spokesman said.
Jumper described the AEFs as part of an organizational structure to which the Air Force has migrated in order to become a more responsive, effective force.
Recent experience, such as showdowns with Iraq's Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, showed the Air Force that it was too Cold-War-oriented and not well enough prepared to face "contingencies," Jumper said.
Then, he said, "Here comes a big contingency we call Desert Storm, and we are fairly flat-footed. We learned some ugly things about ourselves" in terms of the Air Force's ability to adjust to new situations, he said.
So the Air Force moved toward the creation of a structure around the AEF in order to gain more flexibility and adaptability of responsiveness, he said.
The Air Force tries to look at the world of the future, in terms of defense needs, he said, but as past experience has shown, "We are absolutely lousy at predicting what that world is gonna be."
What, Jumper was asked, would be the consequences if the Air Force didn't get substantially as many Raptors as it says it needs?
"The consequences of the lower number: you go back [and] look at legacy airplanes that would replace it [the Raptor]," Jumper said.
Then it becomes a question of bang for the buck, he said.
"Look at the check you'd have to write for the F/A-22," which would come in at around $110 million per plane at this stage, because DOD already has paid for the aircraft's development work, Jumper said.
However, "the check for legacy planes" such as the F-15, which would have to fill in for those unpurchased Raptors, would come in at between $75 million and $90 million apiece, Jumper said. The F-15E currently is the foremost Air Force strike fighter aircraft.
"The question is, where do you want to spend your next dollar?" he asked rhetorically.
The Raptor is "off the charts" in terms of outperforming other aircraft, he said.
The F/A-22 Raptor has been described by Lockheed Martin Corp. as a "highly lethal and survivable aircraft" that can defeat threats that the F-15 cannot handle.
Ironically, Jumper also spoke about the need for the Air Force to move away from a platform-oriented philosophy toward "an effects-based way of thinking," and then to put that thinking into action.
"You can do effects-based thinking," he said, "but if you don't get to effects-based programming, and [apply it to] how you buy things, it won't do you any good."
