FY2020 DoD Budget

The dilemma is if the AF says they can replace F-15's with F-35's then how do they justify the PCA which is to be the F-22/F-15 replacement? They need to craft a PR strategy to say that the F-35 would be the interim fix until the PCA is in service. Further they should outline that F-35's bought for the F-15 replacement will move to squadrons assigned to the traditional role for that aircraft at a later date.

It was stated explicitly in testimony just last year that the F-35 would begin to replace the F-15C.
That didn't undermine PCA then. Why would it undermine PCA now?

What could be costly in the longer run is if the industrial base to maintain the F-15 parts is lost due to line closure which will result in either a more expensive fleet to maintain going forward or a smaller fleet. Its partly smoke and mirrors if foreign sales continue to come in but going with the F-15EX means no reliance on foreign sales.

Regardless of what people think, the F-15 is planned to be in the fleet past 2040.

An industrial base for the F-15 would be maintained via the SLEP contracts that the Air Force was
going to hand out for the longerons and the wings. The latter being an E-wing derivative for which
the government owns the data rights.

Regardless of what people think, the F-15 is planned to be in the fleet past 2040.

Honestly, I have my doubts the F-15E Strike Eagle will be around much past 2040. As the Eagle will begin to look "pretty old" by then. Being both costly to operate and maintain. While, offering little capability vs later models of the F-35.


Of course much will depend on the status of the F-35 Program? (Sales, Outstanding Orders, etc.)


"IMHO"

March 13, 2019
Glenn A. Fine
Acting Inspector General
U.S. Department of Defense
4800 Mark Center Drive
Alexandria, VA 22350-1500
Re: Request for Investigation of Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan
Dear Acting Inspector General Fine:

According to news reports, during his tenure at the Department of Defense (“DoD”) Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has made numerous statements promoting his former employer Boeing and has disparaged the company’s competitors before subordinates at the agency. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”) therefore respectfully requests that the Office of Inspector General investigate these allegations to determine whether Acting Secretary Shanahan violated ethics rules, including the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (“Standards of Conduct”) and the Ethics Pledge he signed as a condition of his appointment.

https://www.citizensforethics.org/press ... ng-at-dod/


QUOTE:

One prominent example raised in news reports is DoD’s apparent recent decision to request new fighter planes from Boeing.14 According to Bloomberg, DoD made plans to request $1.2 billion for 12 Boeing F-15X fighter aircraft in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, a decision that reportedly was made “with some prodding” by Mr. Shanahan.15 Bloomberg subsequently reported that DoD would request eight F-15Xs in the 2020 budget request as part of a potential purchase of 80 F-15Xs over the next five years.16 However, “the Air Force has said it does not want” the aircraft, and “military experts seemed baffled by the F-15X decision,” arguing that the jet, unlike the F-35 fighter produced by Boeing competitor Lockheed Martin, “is ineffective against enemies like Russia and China” who have “sophisticated air defense technologies.”17 DoD’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal ultimately included a request for eight updated models of Boeing’s older F-15 fighter jet at a cost of $1.1 billion.18

In addition to allegations that Mr. Shanahan advocated for his former employer Boeing, his “private remarks” at DoD have raised concerns that he may “harbor[] an unfair bias against other big military contractors” competing with Boeing for lucrative government contracts.19 In particular,

Mr. Shanahan allegedly criticized Lockheed Martin’s handling of the production of the F-35 fighter jet in meetings with subordinates.

According to public reports, Mr. Shanahan “repeatedly ‘dumped’ on the F-35 in meetings,” stated that the plane was “f---ed up,” and argued that Lockheed, which won the contract to build the plane over Boeing, “doesn’t know how to run a program.”20 Mr. Shanahan also allegedly stated that if Lockheed’s contract “had gone to Boeing, it would be done much better,” and “slammed” Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson.21 As one former official described Shanahan’s comments: “He would complain about Lockheed’s timing and their inability to deliver, and from a Boeing point of view, say things like, ‘We would never do that.’”22
Acting Secretary Shanahan is the first person to lead DoD since the 1950’s to “come purely from the private sector” and with “virtually no government or policy experience.”23 At Boeing, Mr. Shanahan was integral in helping the company win defense contracts and oversaw military programs including Boeing Missile Defense Systems and Boeing Rotorcraft Systems.24 Since Mr. Shanahan’s arrival at DoD, Boeing has been very successful in winning government contracts. For example, in December 2018, public reporting suggested a Boeing “takeover” at DoD, noting that “in the last six months, Boeing has won three multibillion-dollar competitions for major Department of Defense aircraft programs, despite massive delays in delivering a new tanker fleet to the U.S. Air Force.”25 Those Boeing contracts with the government included a $2.4 billion agreement with DoD to build Huey helicopters with another company, and beating out Lockheed Martin to win a $9.2 billion contract building training jets for the Air Force.26 Boeing also secured an $805 million deal to build aerial-refueling drones for the Navy.27 In early 2019, Boeing shares increased in value by 6.2 percent after the company beat quarterly earnings expectations and posted annual revenue of more than $100 billion for the first time ever.28

https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citize ... -FINAL.pdf

Extract from USN FY 2020 budget summary. Reposted below.

Extract from USN FY 2020 budget summary.

Obviously, inventory doesn't mean in the fleet. For example they list "22" Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruisers.....Yet, they may have half that number is service.

'weasel1962' IF the photobucket images posted are yours in your photobucket account why not upload these same image here please. Otherwise (I guess) a NON photobucket users such as myself will see a degraded image (I'll post a screenshot) AND if one DARES to go to the PB URL then one will be quickly infected with a 'harmless' (I HOPE) spyware malarkey msg.

Gotcha. Thanks Spaz. Did not realise it could be done.

QUOTE:

However, the budget plan states that the next carrier, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), would not be refueled and instead would be used until its nuclear fuel is spent, sending it to an early retirement later in the 2020s. Several media outlets have reported that this decision was a Pentagon-level decision, not one the Navy wanted to pursue.

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/12/fy-202 ... rocurement

Sounds Familiar? Could this be more handiwork from Patrick Shanahan???

Gotcha. Thanks Spaz. Did not realise it could be done.

Thanks. The watermark & other GOTCHAS on the PhotoBucket website are why I no longer use it. YMMV.

For those who have no clue about cruiser status and are too lazy to google....

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/ ... -cruisers/

https://news.usni.org/2016/02/09/fy-201 ... m-congress

USMC Identifies Potential F-35C Backlog
12 Mar 2019 Lee Hudson

"The U.S. Marine Corps wants to purchase fewer Lockheed Martin F-35Bs in fiscal 2020 because a future backlog was identified for the aircraft’s C-model, the service confirmed to Aerospace DAILY.

The service is purchasing both the B and C models of the aircraft. The Marine Corps anticipated purchasing 20 F-35Bs in fiscal 2020, but in the request the buy was cut by half to 10 jets. The fiscal 2020 budget proposal requests 10 F-35B and F-35C jets for the service.

The decision was made to reduce the B model buy and increase the C variant purchase to avoid a potential backlog, service spokesman Capt. Chris Harrison told Aerospace DAILY...." [THEN UNECCESSARY BLATHER ABOUT OLD C PROBLEMS?]

PDF: https://aviationweek.com/site-files/avi ... 9_cht4.pdf

Source: https://aviationweek.com/defense/usmc-i ... 5c-backlog

SHANAHANNAHANHAN not to BLAME for the F-15 EXtraEXpensive BUY - speculation is fun isn't it. So is the US MilBUDGIE!

Dunford: New F-15 Buy for Air Force Fills F-35 Capacity and Capability Shortfall
14 Mar 2019 Brian Everstine

"The Pentagon’s decision to add new F-15EXs to its budget request for the Air Force, a move not requested by the service itself, was based on a lack of capability and capacity of the current fleet and the presumptive cheaper cost of the Eagles, the military’s top uniformed officer told lawmakers on Thursday. [presumptive = consumptive?]

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request includes about $1 billion for eight F-15EX “advanced Eagles,” a decision that stemmed from former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee the “framework” of the decision came from a study of the future needs of the military’s tactical aircraft fleet, which showed the Air Force had a shortage in its number of aircraft and the amount of ordnance those aircraft could carry.

"Then they had the F-15C, which was aging out in the 2027-2028 period," he said "So, within the next five or 10 years the best solution was to go to the F-15, called the EX, platform to backfill the F-15. Eventually we’ll get to an all F-35 program, but from both a cost perspective and a capability perspective, this particular mix of aircraft for the near term was determined to be the right mix of aircraft.”

The F-15EX initially would only be “slightly” cheaper to buy than a new F-35, it will be more than 50 percent cheaper than the Joint Strike Fighter to operate over its life. Additionally, it has “twice as many hours” [?] in terms of how long it lasts.

The Air Force’s five-year Future Years Defense Plan calls for buying 80 of the F-15EXs, though the ultimate buy could be as many as 144. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said before the budget was released the F-15s were inserted into the budget by entities outside the Air Force, and the service instead preferred to buy more F-35s.

“The primary aircraft of the future for the Air Force is the F-35, and they’re not walking back off that program,” Dunford said."

Source: http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pag ... tfall.aspx

Hey Bulldog.. How's that bus feel?

HUH? Lots of BlahBlah about how cheap to buy/use/train for the F-15EX will be (predicting the future anyone? Buehler?).

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ix-456480/

F-15EX will have a 16,000 hr airframe?