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Legislators discuss future of Navy-Marine air

The Navy Department’s aviation budget request is $4.6 billion more than last year’s plan for fiscal 2010, although the number of planned aircraft purchased has decreased by 20.

Now faced with a fighter gap that may be growing even more than expected and a tightening budget, some lawmakers are questioning whether the Navy and Marine Corps can hold out until the Joint Strike Fighter is ready.

“We can no longer afford unaffordable programs. I believe it is time to step back and build what we know works, make it better if and when we can, and get the capability to the sailor and Marine who need it today, not 10 years from now,” Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said in prepared testimony Tuesday.

While there is little doubt that the stealth provided by the JSF would be a valuable asset, members of the House Armed Services subcommittee said too much money was being devoted to the program which is still in developmental testing.

“The JSF may be a great weapon system, but it seems to be the 99-percent solution that Secretary [Robert] Gates said we should avoid,” Ranking Republican Rep. W. Todd Akin, of Missouri, said in his opening statement.

Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for Marine Corps aviation programs, said the Corps remains dedicated to the JSF.

The Navy Department requested $4.7 billion for 20 Joint Strike Fighters — 16 F-35B Short Take-off Vertical Landing variants for the Marine Corps and four F-35C carrier variants for the Navy. The Corps’ F-35B is expected to replace the AV-8B Harrier, the F/A-18 A-D Hornets and a “large portion” of the EA-6B Prowlers.

“We are taking a long pause in buying tactical aircraft. We need the Joint Strike Fighter and we think the secretary and [President Barack Obama] made a wise choice to go after the Joint Strike Fighter,” Trautman said after the hearing. “2012 is our initial operational capability and I see no impediments to getting there.”

Navy officials declined to give exact figures Tuesday for the strike fighter gap, saying an ongoing analysis will reveal more detailed and accurate information this summer.

However, new estimates from the Congressional Research Service show that the Navy and Marine Corps will have a shortage of about 15 aircraft this year that will expand steadily to 50 next year, reaching a peak of 243 in 2018.

The department’s aviation budget includes $277.7 million for the continuation of upgrades to the F/A-18 A/B/C/D legacy Hornet to the E/F Super Hornets.

Congress also questioned whether the department’s electronic warfare capabilities are meeting combatant commanders’ needs.

The EA-6B Prowler is used heavily in Iraq. The fiscal 2010 budget requests $11 million to operationally sustain the department’s Prowlers and $128 million of research and development, test and evaluation funds for Next Generation Jammer analysis that was supposed to be operational in 2016 but now is slated for 2018, Rear Adm. Allen Myers, the Navy’s director of Naval Warfare Integration, said at the hearing.

“The Navy and Marine Corps remain fully committed to the EA-6B as we continue to enhance our legacy capabilities. The EA-6B continues to maintain an extremely high deployment tempo, supporting operations against growing and diverse irregular warfare threats,” according to prepared testimony. “The EA-6B when deployed to Iraq has the highest utilization rate of any aircraft in our inventory.”