Ranking Member Courtney’s Opening Remarks for House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces Hearing on Next Generation Airspace Control—Ensuring Air Force Compliance by Jan 1, 2020
“Thank you Chairman Forbes for convening today’s hearing regarding the Air Force’s efforts to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next generation air space compliance regulations. Also, thank you to our panel of Air Force witnesses here today.
“The modernization and recapitalization of our nation’s fighters, bombers, tankers, and airlift platforms has been an ongoing area of interest and concern for this panel. These aircraft perform vital missions essential to national security and support our military’s operations around the globe. However, these legacy aircraft are now more frequently having their lifetimes extended, flying much longer than original designs intended -- and are often older than the crews and pilots who operate and maintain them. Consequently, the Air Force must be prepared to confront a growing number of challenges in ensuring that these platforms remain airborne despite their age.
“One such challenge is compliance with the looming airspace management requirements due to go into effect on January 1, 2020. The FAA has mandated that all aircraft flying in controlled airspace must have a capability called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, by that time. ADS-B is an important element of modernizing our airspace both domestically, and around the globe.
“While this requirement was first established in 2012, it seems that the Air Force has not yet outlined a comprehensive and reliable plan to ensure compliance with the new requirements throughout its fleet. Without action by the Air Force to accelerate their efforts to comply with the 2020 deadline, or waivers from the FAA, I am concerned that there may be impacts to operations and readiness.
“That is not to say that there has been no progress on this matter. One area in particular where I am pleased to see steady efforts towards compliance is in the Air National Guard C-130H fleet. Like many state National Guard units around the country, the “Flying Yankees” of the 103rd Airlift Wing in Connecticut fly a fleet of C-130Hs in support of essential mobility and airlift operations. They have had this issue front and center on their agenda for years, given the proximity of their bases to many commercial airports and their regular operations in domestic and international airspace.
“Thanks largely to interest from this panel, we have worked with Air Force officials to accelerate plans to upgrade this fleet through the Avionics Modernization Program, or AMP, Increment One. Notably, through our combined efforts both on airspace requirements and the larger modernization effort for the C-130Hs, we’ve ensured that this fleet will be fully compliant by 2020. I look forward to an update on the progress of this effort.
“However, not all other Air Force platforms have a similar, comprehensive modernization program to meet future demands and FAA standards. For example, the majority of Air Force fighters and bombers do not have funded programs to meet the FAA requirements on time. Furthermore, I remain concerned that modernization programs are not adequately integrated or coordinated between the Air Force Mobility, Global Strike, and Air Combat commands. The success of the C-130H modernization effort ought to inform a comprehensive strategy under which the Air Force will ensure the viability of their fleet more broadly. I hope the Air Force will further progress, accelerate, and prioritize aircraft modernization programs in their Fiscal Year 2018 budget request to increase the number of compliant aircraft across the fleet.
“Again, I would like to thank the Chairman for his attention to this issue, and our witnesses for both their service to the nation, and for appearing before this committee.”