{"id":24552,"date":"2018-02-10T17:51:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T17:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/10\/air-force-to-kill-jstars-recap-program-for-new-battlefield-management-plane\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:04:42","slug":"air-force-to-kill-jstars-recap-program-for-new-battlefield-management-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/breaking-news\/2018\/02\/10\/air-force-to-kill-jstars-recap-program-for-new-battlefield-management-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force to kill JSTARS recap program for new battlefield management plane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SINGAPORE \u2014 The Air Force intends to cancel the JSTARS recap program <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/10\/17\/fate-of-jstars-recap-to-stay-secret-until-fy19-budget-release-says-no-2-air-force-civilian\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\">in its fiscal year 2019 budget submission<\/a>, tanking one of the service\u2019s few remaining aircraft production opportunities still in contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/11\/10\/heres-the-latest-updates-on-on-where-jstars-t-x-and-oax-stand\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\">planned to buy 17 new JSTARS recap planes<\/a> to replace its legacy inventory of E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System battlefield management and control aircraft, with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman \u2014 the three major U.S. military aircraft manufacturers \u2014 all vying for the prime contractor slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, it will push forward with a system-of-systems approach that will link together existing platforms to track ground targets and do command and control, sources with knowledge of the budget told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force\u2019s decision to terminate the recap program will come as little surprise to those closely watching the competition. News of the potential cancelation broke in September, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/09\/12\/future-of-jstars-recap-program-in-question-as-air-force-explores-other-options\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">a handful of lawmakers released a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis<\/a> that condemned the Air Force\u2019s plans to explore alternate options for the airborne command and control mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/air-force-association\/2017\/09\/25\/slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3738645.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Air Force official: Northrop\u2019s JSTARS program still needs \u2018heavy lifting\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Northrop Grumman is still having trouble moving E-8C JSTARS out of its depot despite improvements in quality control, and aircraft availability is suffering as a result, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent months, the service seemingly doubled down on the system-of-systems approach, with top officials from the Air Force\u2019s top civilian to the head of Air Combat Command all questioning \u2014 in public \u2014 whether a JSTARS recap made sense given future threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/10\/05\/air-force-secretary-jstars-recap-decision-coming-this-month\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">repeatedly argued that a more distributed solution could be used to meet demands<\/a>. The legacy JSTARS fleet currently meets only 5 percent of the requirements of combatant commanders, she said, and by the time the recap system would be fielded, it would meet \u201cless than one percent\u201d of those needs, she said in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Mike Holmes, the four-star in charge of Air Combat Command, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/afa-air-space\/2017\/09\/18\/air-combant-command-head-jstars-recap-may-not-be-best-option-for-future-threat-environment\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">noted similar concerns<\/a> during the Air Force Association\u2019s annual conference this September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe question really is, how long do we continue to fund the GMTI [ground moving target indicator] capability in the classic way we\u2019ve done it: with an integrated platform that has a sensor and air battle managers onboard,\u201d that then communicate in the line of sight with people to take on tasks, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow much of our threat environment in the future will allow us to do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Industry setback<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision comes as a major blow to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/video\/2017\/09\/21\/skunk-works-jack-obanion-on-developing-lockheeds-jstars\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Lockheed<\/a>, Northrop and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/video\/2017\/09\/19\/boeing-jstars-offering-seeks-to-solve-spare-parts-problem\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Boeing<\/a>, all of which hoped to win the estimated $6.9 billion contract for engineering, manufacturing and design of the plane. Each of the companies have invested millions of dollars of their own funds to hone their designs and were awaiting source selection by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proponents of the program on Capitol Hill have already noted that taxpayers have invested more than $265 million thus far in early research funding. About $400 million in additional funding has also been approved in the 2018 national defense authorization act, but congressional appropriators \u2014 who actually hold the purse strings \u2014 have not yet settled on how much to allocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers have already put some limits on whether the Air Force will be allowed to go through with their plan to cancel the program. The 2018 NDAA stipulates that, should the service at any time terminate the program, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis must submit a report at the time of the budget request laying out why it was canceled and how the service will continue to meet the mission. He must also certify that a capability gap will not be caused by the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, the T-X training jet and UH-1N Huey helicopter replacement program \u2014 both also in source selection \u2014 stand alone as the service\u2019s major aircraft modernization opportunities. Boeing and Lockheed are competing in both contests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the three primes, Northrop, the prime contractor on the legacy E-8C JSTARS, is the most hurt by the program\u2019s cancellation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company dropped out of the T-X competition last year and does not manufacture helicopters. It also had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2018\/01\/09\/gao-dismisses-raytheons-jstars-recap-protest-cementing-northrop-as-radar-provider\/\">won a battle against Raytheon<\/a> to produce the radar for the JSTARS recap program, which would have given it a win even if it had not nabbed the EMD contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing also had high hopes for its JSTARS recap bid, envisioning its 737-based offering as the start of a line of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2016\/09\/13\/boeing-sees-promising-defense-outlook-for-737-airliner\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">737-derived special mission aircraft<\/a> that could eventually replace planes like the E-3 AWACS or RC-135 Rivet Joint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During an interview at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/singapore-airshow\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Singapore Airshow<\/a> on Tuesday, Orlando Carvalho, the head of Lockheed\u2019s aeronautics division, said that source selection activities were continuing and that competitors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/singapore-airshow\/2018\/02\/08\/fate-of-jstars-recap-program-not-a-make-or-break-moment-for-lockheed\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">had not been briefed on the fate of the program<\/a>. However, he indicated that Lockheed would not fight the cancellation of the program, if that was what was decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf ultimately the Air Force decides to not go forward with that program, clearly we will respect that decision. And frankly, we understand,\u201d he said during an interview Tuesday at the Singapore Airshow. \u201cHaving insight into some of the operations that have been going on in the Middle East, things like that, we can appreciate the tradeoff that the Air Force is trying to make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force intends to cancel the JSTARS recap program in its fiscal year 2019 budget submission, tanking one of the service\u2019s few remaining aircraft production opportunities still in contention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27127,"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":37,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["news","your-air-force","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"news"},"9":{"categories":["isr","intel-geoint","home","daily-brief","newsletters"],"primary_category":"isr"}}},"categories":[7,37,44,8,160,114,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-24552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-breaking-news","category-budget","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-federal-budget","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HIYJ2IKF5RDZ3GUGXY65R56CP4","arc_canonical_url":"\/breaking-news\/2018\/02\/10\/air-force-to-kill-jstars-recap-program-for-new-battlefield-management-plane\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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