Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall testifies at a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing April 18.
COLORADO SPRINGS—The U.S. Air Force is losing precious time to move ahead with new programs because of Washington red tape and to change that, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has an unlikely message to Congress: Give up some of your authority.
It is the crux of a legislative proposal that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently sent up to Capitol Hill, which calls for the Defense Department to initiate less-expensive work on new programs ahead of legislation that formally authorizes it.
Kendall, speaking to reporters April 19 at the Space Symposium here, used the Air Force’s recent experience as an example. More than a year ago, Kendall outlined his top seven priorities for USAF investment to meet critical missions, known as his operational imperatives. The research and planning for these finished one year ago, and now the Air Force has to wait for congressional action on authorization and appropriations to start work on these critical areas.
“So time is going by and [for] all of those things that we worked hard to understand and formulate good solutions to, we’re not able to act on them yet,” Kendall says.
One of these imperatives is development of Collaborative Combat Aircraft—uncrewed systems that will fly alongside combat aircraft and provide additional capabilities such as more sensors, electronic warfare and weapons.
Kendall has said he wants about 1,000 of these to fly with Lockheed Martin F-35s and Air Force Next Generation Air Dominance platforms, and the fiscal 2024 budget request includes about $535 million to begin this work. That requires passage of a defense policy bill and appropriations, and Kendall says this will take a “good year” if not more if Congress passes a long-term continuing resolution.
Under the proposal, the Pentagon would be able to start the initial phases of an acquisition program without congressional approval. This would include steps up through a preliminary design review: creating requirements, systems engineering and risk reduction. Implementing these steps is relatively inexpensive, though not free, and would require spending from existing accounts or through reprogramming, Kendall says.
He outlined the plan during a press conference and speech at the Space Symposium, showing some frustration about the slow pace that Congress will take in the budget process. He says there has been some initial, positive reaction on Capitol Hill because he has tied the slow pace of starting programs to giving adversaries, such as China, more time to develop their own capabilities.
The OMB proposal was submitted to Congress recently, though the office has not responded to queries on the details. It is not immediately apparent how receptive Congress would be to an executive office attempt to take away some authorities.
“One of the reasons this hasn’t happened in the past is because of Congress’ reluctance to give up even this much authority,” Kendall says. “I think it’s a minimal amount of authority to give up for a very high return in terms of [time].”
