WASHINGTON \u2014 An update to the US Air Force’s 2017 wish list bumps its unfunded requirements to $10.6 billion, with the service seeking funding for more F-35s and a light attack aircraft experiment, among other new efforts.
But besides the expected procurement increases, the wish list contains a slew of new line items that reflect emerging priorities, such as $8 million for a light attack aircraft experiment that could precede a future program of record termed OA-X. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and other top officials have endorsed the flight demo as a way to test whether a buy of inexpensive aircraft can help the force ameliorate readiness challenges and affordably perform missions in permissive environments. Goldfein said in January that no money had been directed toward the experiment, but that the service would like to hold the event as early as this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The service added $10 million to the list for a B-52 re-engining risk-reduction study following a January mishap at Minot Air Force Base in which a B-52 lost one of its engines during training. Although the Air Force has been considering re-engining the B-52 bomber for years, it has not been able to move out on the effort due to a lack of funds. Congress may be more willing to support this requirement given the incident earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force wants $120 million for its Operational Control System (OCX) program, a next-generation GPS ground control station that was re-baselined this year after cost overruns triggered a Nunn-McCurdy breach and review of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
It also added about $63 million for EC-130H Compass Call modifications. That upgrade is required if the service moves forward with its “cross deck” strategy, which would move the Compass Call\u2019s electronic attack systems to a new airframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About $51 million would go to fund manpower requirements in the new Nuclear Command, Control and Communications program office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to procuring new platforms, the service also wants funding to modernize a variety of legacy aircraft, such as $56 million for a service life extension for the B-1 bomber\u2019s General Electric F101 engine and $57 million for various upgrades to the A-10 Warthog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force also asks for $822 million so that fourth-generation F-16 and F-15 fighter jets would receive active electronically scanned array radars and radar warning receivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An update to the Air Force\u2019s 2017 wish list bumps its unfunded requirements to $10.6 billion, as the service seeks funding for more F-35s, C-130Js and a new light attack aircraft experiment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3305],"class_list":["post-30288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NSCQSZLWFVDJXK4SHQJOTZ3LFI","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2017\/01\/31\/new-us-air-force-wish-list-adds-billions-for-more-aircraft\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n