Forum: Air Power

Michael Wynne: U.S. Secretary of the Air Force
BY: Caitlin Harrington, Jane's Defense Weekly
03/27/2007

The Air Force is not funded to do everything that everybody wants us to do '

US Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne has long realised he would have to put his vision of building a futuristic US Air Force on hold because of the need to modernise the USAF's capabilities. "We've had to move away from that concept," Wynne said. "Dreams of connectivity have to be down the road because right now it just can't compete with the basic need to recapitalise."

Wynne's biggest current challenge is finding the money to replenish the air force's ageing fleet - which averages a quarter-century old - so he can meet the relentless demand for a far more traditional mission: air support to US forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wynne, a former vice president for General Dynamics, is lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure lawmakers know the air force needs more money, yet knows how to spend it wisely. He has a ready answer whenever reporters or lawmakers ask him how much fleet modernisation will cost: USD20 billion a year. Convincing Capitol Hill to boost investment in the air force is not easy, however.

The US government, which is largely funding the war in Iraq on debt, has increased spending for ground forces in part by squeezing budgets for the air force and navy.

On top of the budget pressure, Wynne must restore lawmakers' faith in the USAF's ability to usher through major acquisition programmes. The air force lost its acquisition authority in 2005 after mishandling a contract to lease Boeing 767 tankers and only regained that authority in 2006.

Wynne's solution to these problems is a fairly straightforward approach to acquisition. He is focused on replacing the air force's most basic assets, such as tankers, helicopters, fighters and cargo aircraft.

"We have B-52s that are older than the pilots who fly them ... I have fighters that are actually on flight restrictions ... [Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley] declares the mother of the last pilot [of a KC-135 tanker] has not yet been born," Wynne said.

Gone is the heavy emphasis on space-based systems and unmanned aircraft that were such prominent themes during the US military's 'transformational' years under former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

For example, although Wynne frequently mentions the importance of intelligence collected by unmanned aircraft and satellite imagery, he seems to spend far more of his time adamantly arguing for money to pay for recapitalisation of manned aircraft. He is asking for an expanded order of F-22A Raptor fighter aircraft and would like to buy some more C-17 cargo aircraft to keep the production line open, although he says he currently does not have the money to do either.

Wynne's straightforward acquisition plans seem to feed into his broader vision for the future of air force operations. The centrepiece of that vision is simply to ensure that USAF aircraft can support forces on the ground, especially in asymmetric battles fought in urban areas.

"To me this is really the next nature of warfare - the connection of ground forces to the air forces," he said.

He said the USAF has to maintain a fleet of aircraft ready and able to deploy in support of ground forces.

Furthermore, that fleet must be equipped with the technology needed to help ground forces identify targets and hit those targets accurately.

"This is really setting the tactical conditions for victory: getting the ground forces ... the situational awareness and then allowing the ground commander to essentially confirm and direct strikes onto targets of opportunity that the air force might see."

Wynne notes that one of the most important USAF innovations in this regard is a fairly simple one: providing ground controllers - known as Joint Terminal Attack Controllers - with laptops that can exchange live video imagery with pilots in the cockpit. The air force is rushing the video display systems, known as Remote Operated Video Enhanced Receiver systems, to Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Wynne and air commanders in the field say that the systems are helping to satisfy an insatiable need for more situational awareness of the urban battlefield.

Another important innovation, aimed at protecting these air-to-ground information exchanges, is Wynne's decision to create a new cyber command. The Air Force Cyberspace Command will manage firewalls and authenticate venues where air force data is exchanged to ensure these operations are not corrupted by hackers, criminals or adversaries.

Wynne said the role of a cyber command is key because the air force has become a "trusted shooter" and must be able to assure pilots dropping weapons that the information they receive in the cockpit is authentic and has not been tampered with in any way.

The air force must also ensure that machine-to-machine connections - such as the link between a machine that identifies an incoming missile and the interceptor launched to destroy it - have not been tampered with.

A third key feature of the air force's overall effort to boost its support for ground forces is the continued development of precision weapons.

Wynne said the air force is now modelling the effects of the Focused Lethality Munition: an upgrade to the 250 lb (113 kg) GBU Small Diameter Bomb designed to further reduce the collateral damage area.

Despite the focus on the operational goal of supporting ground forces and a revised acquisition strategy, Wynne says his hands are full this budget season. The USAF is stretched and strained and needs more money - a point that Wynne made more than once during his interview with Jane's. "My final line to you is: the air force is simply not funded to do everything that everybody wants us to do," Wynne said.

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We are waiting on the C-5A to get axed, and as all we have scheduled here at the depot is A models this year, gonna leave alotta free time. Seeing signs pointing to that. No more parts, an article in the base propaganda paper using the example of "if the A model C-5 is retired it would mean a lot of lost jobs at Robins, but it would better the AF," AF wants to axe it, but congress was saying no. New Dem congress, new game. "You want to retire an airframe? Hell, yes sounds like a fine idea!" Looking to gut the military anyway, guess we'll do it for'em.
I'm all for selflesness and service before self, but if I get Riffed I'm going midevil on someones a$$.
Could possibly parlay it into a transfer to Ogdon and go back to real jets.

USAF IMHO doesn't seem to take upkeep of the C-5 fleet seriously. Of course anyone could counter to that by saying: "Look at the M model upgrade etc etc..." But that project is penny pinched to the nth degree and taking years to do. Be nice to just spend some hard cash and at least get the B model moderization up and hard. USAF funding is on life support.

Forum: Air Power

Budget Status Of the USAF ( from the SecAF )