Senator Cramer Questions U.S. Air Force, Space Force Leadership on Future of Airborne ISR and B-52 Modernization at SASC Hearing

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WASHINGTON - The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) held a hearing on Tuesday where members heard testimony from Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David Allvin, and Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman. The military leadership were questioned about theirDefense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2025 and the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).

During the hearing, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) asked the witnesses about the future of airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, particularly as it relates to the 319^th Reconnaissance Wing located at Grand Forks Air Force Base. He also focused on the current and forthcoming modernization challenges for the B-52.

Yesterday, Senator Cramer led a bipartisan letter to Defense Secretary Austin, critiquing the Air Force's rapid divestment of airborne ISR platforms without producing new capabilities to replace them. The members noted the rate of divestment without equal investment will leave Combatant Commanders forced to accept greater risk and leaves civilian policy makers with less strategic ISR to make informed decisions.

Senator Cramer first asked Secretary Kendall how low-density, high-demand units such as the Global Hawk Wing in North Dakota, or other ISR units within the Air Force, fit into its reoptimization plans released in February.

"I'm going to go in more at it from the reoptimization plans that were released in February, and my office sent a [Request For Information], asking about how the new Air Force structure might affect the 319th Reconnaissance wing in Grand Forks specifically. This is a very high-demand Air Force base with very few people and assets," said Cramer. "How do these low-density, high-demand units like the Global Hawk Wing in Grand Forks, or other ISR units for that matter around the Air Force, fit into the plan for reoptimization? I read all 12 pages [of your testimony] this morning, there's not a mention of ISR. […] How does Grand Forks fit into reoptimization? "

"It doesn't directly. The reoptimization of the Great Power Competition is largely about focusing our readiness units on readiness. […] There is no direct correlation between what we're doing under reoptimizing and specific units," said Secretary Kendall. "ISR is a very high priority, […] It's a very big part of our modernization program, separate from the optimization. As we talked about earlier, we're moving a lot of our ISR capacity into space because our airborne platforms, many of them are too vulnerable to attack. [We'll] keep some airborne platforms, and some space-based capabilities as well. We have requirements to have ISR for less contested environments, more benign environments, as well as highly contested environments, so we're trying to have a balanced mix of capabilities and sustain that while we move forward. Some of our legacy capabilities, if you will, are less valuable to us against the pacing challenge, or just not effective against that."

Senator Cramer interjected modernization is important everywhere, in every mission, and space is critical to it. However, he has recently talked with many people who are frightened about the gap between their ability to find, identify, and hit a target today and over the next few years.

Senator Cramer then asked General Allvin to explain how he foresees the future of airborne ISR unfolding.

"While ISR may not be mentioned [in the reoptimization plan] specifically, […] those are the parts called the combat generation wings because they will feed into the larger deployable construct, but we wouldn't expect the entire 319^th to be able to go and deploy the entire wing because it's such an [high-demand, low-density] asset," said General Allvin. "It needs to be able to be distributed all across so that's why it's part of these combat generation wings."

While B-52 will remain the backbone of the bomber fleet through 2050, Senator Cramer expressed concerns there is a lack of commitment to essential modernization efforts. Senator Cramer probed Secretary Kendall to explain how these B-52 aircrafts will be flown through 2050 without new engines and whether he will commit to finishing the Commercial Engine Replacement Program.

"We picked up some rumors over the last couple of days that the Commercial Engine Replacement Program might be in some doubt," said Cramer. "Of course, that'd be the reengining of things like the B-52, which has only been around about 60 years and we expect it to be around another 30 or so. Just confirm for me that's a vicious lie that somebody's spreading."

Secretary Kendall confirmed the commercial replacement of the B-52 is proceeding.

After the open hearing, Senator Cramer proceeded to the classified session with Air Force leadership to go more into detail about the future of ISR at Grand Forks Air Force Base and throughout the Air Force.

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