Senators Sound Support For Guard Fighters
By Michael Bruno 
Senate appropriators on March 25 offered sympathy and support for the U.S. Air National Guard in its effort to gain new tactical aircraft, be they F-22 Raptors or modernized legacy fighters.
“We’ll do our very best to make sure replacements for your fighters are in the budget,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) assured Lt Gen. Harry Wyatt III, director of the Air National Guard.
“We’ve got to start working toward recapitalization,” Wyatt told lawmakers, hammering home recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) and news reports outlining concerns over future air sovereignty alert capabilities (Aerospace DAILY, March 18).
Wyatt was the latest in a string of top Guard and homeland defense officials calling for budget help in replacing aging F-16s and F-15s that are depended upon to patrol and protect domestic U.S. skies (Aerospace DAILY, March 5).
GAO reported in January that if Guard aircraft are not replaced by 2020, 11 of the 18 domestic air sovereignty alert sites could be without aircraft. The Air Force has not developed mitigation plans because it was focused on other priorities like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the 18 sites, 12 are currently equipped with F-16s, which will reach the end of their useful service lives between fiscal 2015 and 2020.
Wyatt claimed the Air National Guard faces the greatest risk of delays in regard to tactical aircraft replacement, saying it could lose 80 percent of its air force between 2010-2018 if nothing is done, dropping from 19 wings to just four over that time. The active Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have each expressed concern over their own projected tacair shortfalls.
Guard officials have repeatedly noted USAF’s push for buying fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22s and F-35s over updated fourth-generation Boeing fighters like Falcons and Eagles, and Wyatt continued the argument in favor of securing F-22s for the Air National Guard. “The best aircraft in the world needs to be defending the best country in the world,” he said, referring to domestic patrols.
Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, whose state is home to major Boeing fighter manufacturing, lambasted USAF for paltry budget planning that could leave the Air National Guard “eviscerated.” The Republican senator said the Guard needs a “bridge” to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and that the USAF needs to prove that it believes air sovereignty to be an important mission.
Wyatt said the Guard was working with the USAF over budget options. “We are including in our options a fourth-generation buy, or a 4.5-generation buy,” he said.
Photo: USAF
