Mark Kelly Asks Air Force General About New Command For Development Of F-47 And B-21 Aircraft

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) spoke about the Integrated Capabilities Command.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, General Alvin. Last September, the Air Force

00:09activated the Integrated Capabilities Command to integrate requirements and development and

00:17emerging capabilities and to modernize the force. The formation of this command is very timely as

00:23the service moves towards NGAD, the F-47. So, General Alvin, I'm interested in the F-47 and how you see

00:32this new command, the Integrated Capabilities Command, supporting future development,

00:36both for the F-47 and the B-21 and anything beyond that.

00:43Yeah, thank you, Senator. And we are now to the point where we have the Integrated Capabilities

00:47Command is in a provisional status. It was part of the series of activities that we had paused.

00:52And now we have a secretary in the seat who can evaluate those and make sure that we're on the

00:56right path for evolving that into where it needs to be. In its current instantiation, the vision

01:02is the value of the Integrated Capabilities Command is it doesn't develop the platform

01:06to be the best platform in the world. It understands what we're doing now is going through mission

01:11threads. What does that capability have to integrate with? It has to integrate with the C-3 and battle

01:17management, has to integrate with the other capabilities, the crypto modernization, all

01:22those things. Does it do the integration with the CCAs? It will ensure. Yes. So, that's the other value

01:29of it. It ensures that that system integrates with the others to develop an operational outcome,

01:35not just a performance parameter. And so, it will ensure that. It will also ensure that as we move

01:40forward some of the good ideas, we ensure that the good ideas meet the force design,

01:47not just make the platform better. If they make the platform better, but they don't make the platform

01:51perform better across the whole mission, then it's probably not worth spending the money on. So,

01:55it will help us also make better use of every dollar to where that F-47 and those CCA and the B-21

02:02and everything that goes with it gets a better combat outcome.

02:06Is it fully staffed at this point? Not at this point. It's got the provisional. And so, it is doing modest

02:12work now. And as we look towards the next level of that, it will now take the sort of federated

02:18approach from some of the capability development being done in Langley and some in Barksdale and some

02:23at Scott. It will actually put those together and say, what does one Air Force force design look

02:27like? And that's its vision. Is it pretty high level or do you have like software engineers there

02:32to make sure software between platforms is integrated? The value of setting it up like

02:39it is, the software engineers and the technical experts, they are very tightly linked with the

02:43current office called the Agile Development Office. But they're the ones who take the good

02:47ideas from the operator and say, is that technically feasible? And it also has one stop shopping for

02:53outside industry to come in and say, hey, I got a new design. I got a good product here. We can let

02:58them know, yes, go ahead and spend your IRAD dollars on that because that is going to be a part of our

03:02future force design or not. So, it also helps industry as well. But it's got all the smart

03:06software engineers working with our Air Force Material Command. Thank you. Unrelated subject.

03:12As the department continues to embrace multi-domain warfare, I'm concerned about the lack of training

03:18space available where we can integrate all domains. And we're dealing with airplanes that are flying

03:25faster and higher and air-to-air missiles that have a greater range. The stick is getting bigger.

03:33The ranges aren't getting bigger. We need cost-effective training for our pilots

03:37and the ability to actually engage in a contested EW environment. Last year at this hearing, we talked

03:45about opportunities to integrate the Air Force Army and Marine Corps training ranges in the state of

03:51Arizona to do multi-domain operationals and to have, you know, the ability to do just longer runs.

04:02So, since then, General, what steps have you taken to stitch together to bridge these training areas

04:10in the state of Arizona to get better training for the Joint Force?

04:14Yeah. Thank you, Senator. I would say that we're still, we'll still be in the forming phase. Last

04:19year, we've had a lot of exercises like the Bamboo Eagle exercises where we understood what the

04:24operational joint exercise would look like. We haven't yet looked at the stitching together. But

04:28your point was, it was right last year and it's still right this year. There's the opportunity because

04:32of the geography of Arizona and actually leaking into New Mexico as well.

04:37Yeah, we can go, we can go from Goldwater through the Outlaw and Jackal Moa. You got to stitch those two

04:42together and then beyond that to the White Sands Missile Range. And then you have a training range that I think is

04:48maybe, you know, unmatched, maybe in CONUS, obviously, in Alaska. That's, uh, Senator Sullivan's here. He likes to talk

04:56about that. It still has great value because right now we're, in order to do some of that long-range training, we're out in the

05:01whiskey area. So, we're out just over the oceans, which obviously limits us from geography. So, getting together the

05:06multi-domain exercises to figure out where we're short and where we don't want to do it synthetically, we

05:10actually want to do it in the physical space. That's, it's still-

05:12Are the conversations with the FAA happening?

05:15Those are going to need to be key, but we need to get together with the Army and the other services and

05:19actually ask the FAA exactly what we need to ensure that we can do that. Not ask for the moon, but what's

05:23practical.

05:23So, you've had no conversations with the FAA?

05:25Not, not at the joint level. At the end of, at the Air Force level, we have, but we really want to stitch that

05:31together with the other joint force.

05:32Okay, can you get me an update on this in a few months?

05:35Yeah, we'll do that, sir. Thank you. Thank you, General.

05:36Thank you, Senator Kelly. Senator Craig.

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