{"id":16004,"date":"2021-09-20T17:03:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T17:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/20\/secaf-to-congress-let-us-retire-aircraft-or-we-cant-beat-china\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:34:43","slug":"secaf-to-congress-let-us-retire-aircraft-or-we-cant-beat-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/09\/20\/secaf-to-congress-let-us-retire-aircraft-or-we-cant-beat-china\/","title":{"rendered":"SecAF to Congress: Let us retire aircraft or we can\u2019t beat China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2021\/04\/27\/frank-kendall-to-be-nominated-as-top-air-force-civilian\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall<\/a> on Monday used his first public speech to send a message to Congress: The aircraft in your district are not exempt from the retirements the Air Force must do to free up funds for next-generation planes, drones and weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have one request of the Congress: help us to focus on the one fight \u2014 the strategic competitive fight \u2014 we must win,\u201d Kendall said during a speech at the Air Force Association\u2019s Air, Space and Cyber conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will not succeed against a well-resourced and strategic competitor if we insist on keeping every legacy system we have,\u201d he said. \u201cOur one team cannot win its one fight to deter China or Russia without the resources we need and a willingness to balance risk today to avoid much greater risk in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI do understand the political constraints here, and I\u2019m happy to work with Congress to find a better mechanism to make the changes we need, but we must move forward,\u201d Kendall added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Immediately after taking office in late July, Kendall put the Air Force and Space Force to work on an intense exercise meant to overhaul the services\u2019 budget ahead of its submission to the Office of the Secretary of Defense two days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The resulting budget submission does not comply with congressional direction to retain certain numbers of legacy aircraft, said Kendall, who did not elaborate further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent years, the service has shied away from seeking to retire full fleets of aircraft, as was common practice during the Obama administration when the Air Force unsuccessfully tried to divest its U-2 spyplanes, RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones and A-10 Warthog attack planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, leaders said Budget Control Act caps made it impossible to modernize the force with next-generation aircraft while at the same time hanging on to aging planes that are expensive to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, over the past two years, the Air Force put forward budget proposals that called for retiring portions of certain aircraft inventories \u2014 several squadrons of A-10s, the oldest model Global Hawks and dozens of aging KC-10 and KC-135 tankers, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kendall signaled the service could return to a more aggressive approach, where it will push lawmakers to approve the retirements of \u201caircraft that we no longer need and that do not intimidate China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2021\/08\/17\/the-new-air-force-secretary-wants-to-scare-china\/\" target=\"_blank\">an August interview with Defense News<\/a>, Kendall said the Air Force was considering bundling aircraft divestments in a single package, which would allow the service to make cuts without having to debate every proposed retirement individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These older fleets are \u201cconsuming precious resources we do need for modernization,\u201d Kendall said at the conference. While it\u2019s understandable that lawmakers try to protect their districts\u2019 economies, local political interests are coming at the expense of national security priorities, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was a frequent occurrence during my confirmation process to have a senator agree with me about the significance of the Chinese threat, and in the same breath to tell me that under no circumstances could the \u2014 take your pick \u2014 C-130s, A-10s, KC-10s, [or] MQ-9s in that senator\u2019s state be retired, nor could any base in his or her state ever be closed or lose manpower that would cause impact to the local economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kendall asked the audience to imagine a headline in a Chinese newspaper where the Chinese legislature\u2019s representative in Hunan opposed the retirement of J-10 fighters until the J-20 had been fielded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCan any of you imagine that headline in the South China Morning Post?\u201d he asked. \u201cI cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We will not succeed against a well-resourced and strategic competitor if we insist on keeping every legacy system we have,\u201d Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said 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