00:00It is an issue that needs a good bit of attention.
00:06Senator King.
00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:09Mr. Cowell, thank you for taking on this challenge and for your inspiring story.
00:13You demonstrate to this committee and to this country the value that immigrants and refugees can play in the future of our country,
00:22and you're a walking statement of that fact.
00:26I want to just emphasize something that you mentioned in your opening statement, and that is maintenance.
00:32It's the most boring topic of all, but as you correctly point out, one of our major problems is availability.
00:40We all talked about AI.
00:42I did a little AI work this morning.
00:45The average availability of Navy ships is in the range of 60 percent.
00:48It depends on which ship, but some are below 50, some are in the range of 65 or 70,
00:54but generally between 50 and 60 percent.
00:57The availability of Carnival Cruise Line ships is 91 percent.
01:01If Carnival Cruise Line ships were available 60 percent of the time, they'd be out of business.
01:06I hope that you'll carry through on what you suggest in your opening testimony
01:10and really get after this issue of maintenance and availability.
01:16I challenge you to come back to this committee in a couple of years and tell us where we're benchmarking against Carnival Cruise Lines.
01:26Thank you for that, Senator.
01:28Yes, we are in maritime nation.
01:30We depend on the seas for trade, and right now we're deficit in not just commercial ships.
01:36I think there's less than 80 flagged U.S. ships.
01:39There's less than 129 military seal of command ships, and our fleet is, you know, less than 400 ships right now,
01:48or actually less than 300 ships, and we need a stronger Navy in order to maintain the freedom of the seas.
01:55I agree with that.
01:56We're not building enough ships, but we're also not keeping the ships that we have in service.
02:01I take it you agree with that?
02:03Yes, Senator, the ASABO or the operational availability is pretty horrid on a lot of ships.
02:10I'll look forward to tracking that with you as time goes on.
02:14Mr. Dodd, you have, I think, one of the most important jobs in the Pentagon, which is technology.
02:20Technology, the adaptation of new technology is what wins wars.
02:25Genghis Khan was able to conquer the world because of his utilization of the stirrup,
02:29which enabled his archers to shoot from horseback, and it was that technology that enabled him.
02:37The longbow at the Battle of Agincourt enabled 6,000 British troops to defeat an army of 20,000 French.
02:45I'm worried, and you mentioned several technologies in your testimony,
02:48but we've basically been slow on several technologies.
02:53We've been slow on drones, on hypersonics, and particularly on directed energy, which you didn't mention.
03:00But in the age of drones, directed energy can be more important than ever.
03:05The prior administration woefully underfunded the development of directed energy.
03:09I hope that's something that you will pursue in your new position.
03:14Senator, thank you for raising that very important issue.
03:16And if confirmed, directed energy would be a technology area in the critical technologies portfolio.
03:25I'm a staunch advocate and believer, as you referenced, in a one-to-many response,
03:30in utilizing many faster, cheaper platforms.
03:35And certainly in the counter-UAS domain, directed energy will play a critical role
03:40in that high-performance microwaves are making some significant advances.
03:45Those platforms have already been prototyped.
03:47They're being tested currently.
03:49So we are excited to, again, if confirmed, see the growth and scaling of directed energy platforms.
03:55Well, I point out in the Red Sea today, we're shooting down $20,000 Yemeni and Iranian drones
04:02with $4 million missiles.
04:04That's unsustainable.
04:06And a shot from a directed energy is about $0.75.
04:09So this is urgent.
04:12And I hope it is pursued not only systematically but also with some urgency.
04:18Senator, fully commit to pursuing directed energy platforms, if confirmed.
04:24Mr. Ingraham, logistics acquisition and technology.
04:29One of the hidden issues there is industrial base.
04:33And everybody that comes before this committee talks about rebuilding the industrial base.
04:37And part of that is workforce.
04:40The industrial base can't grow and support what we need with the limited workforce that we have now.
04:48So I hope that will be a significant part because you can't do acquisition if you don't have people to acquire the products from.
04:55Is industrial base part of what you view as your mission?
05:00Senator, absolutely.
05:01I think the industrial base is absolutely critical.
05:04And ensuring that we have a strong industrial base is fundamental to acquisitions, as you mentioned.
05:09And I think a number of key things, you know, if confirmed, I would want to make sure we're doing is first understanding where those critical gaps are in our industrial base.
05:18We've got to map that industrial base starting right from the mine all the way to the factory floor to where we see in the value stream.
05:26We need to ensure we're adding some resilience and some strength to our investment.
05:30I would suggest that one important provision here, one important initiative, is a steady demand signal.
05:39We can't expect our private sector contractors to make major investments unless they know they're going to be able to sell their products.
05:46So multi-year contracting and a steady demand signal is important.
05:52They're not going to invest if it's going to be turned off and on, and they don't know if they're going to have the business a year or two later.
05:58So I hope you'll consider that as well.
06:01Senator, absolutely.
06:03Multi-year procurements has been critical, especially in the munitions space where we're ensuring that we drive that constant demand signal.
