The process the Air Force is using to acquire its new trainer jet, which involves a more open collaboration with industry, could serve as a “template” for future acquisition programs, the service’s top general said Tuesday.
Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said he’s “pretty optimistic” about the program, despite two major contractor teams dropping out of competition in recent weeks.
The Air Force has begun a “robust, inclusive conversation” with industry over the acquisition of the trainer, which has included several draft requests for proposal and a list of requirements above the threshold that companies will get credit for delivering.
“If you really liked the old way of doing business, you probably didn’t like this because it took longer,” he said at a Defense Writers Group breakfast.
The new two-seat trainer jet, called the T-X, will replace the service’s fleet of T-38s. A final request for proposal laying out requirements was released in December and a $16.3 billion contract is expected to be awarded this year.
Two teams have already dropped out of the competition: Northrop Grumman-BAE and Raytheon-Leonardo. That leaves at least two teams still in the competition. The offering from Boeing and Saab, a clean-sheet design made specifically for this proposal, made its first test flight in December. Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries are working on a modified version of the F-50.
Goldfein said he is “not at all surprised” that companies dropped out once they knew more about what the government was looking for and what other teams had to offer because of the more open conversations surrounding the acquisition of the trainer.
The remaining teams have “a very good sense of what we’re looking for,” Goldfein said.
The general also talked about a series of other issues in the hour-long event with reporters:
- The Air Force is expected to buy 1,763 Lockheed Martin F-35As. Goldfein said that despite a planned military buildup from President Trump and the campaign against the Islamic State, that number hasn’t changed. Any decision to buy more planes doesn’t need to be made for several years, and the important thing now is avoiding turbulence in the number of planes to protect both the other U.S. services and international partners buying the plane. Goldfein also said the F-35 will be a priority in the fiscal 2017 supplemental budget request, though it might not be the No. 1 priority.
- As the services begin to put together both a fiscal 2017 supplemental and a fiscal 2018 budget request, Goldfein said he is being “pretty cautious.” Even though the administration and some in Congress seem to be onboard with a boost for defense spending, Goldfein said he doesn’t want to make a decision based on those expectations and then end up in a bad position if a funding boost falls through.
- Goldfein said the Air Force is planning to keep the A-10s flying through 2021 and that he plans to discuss the future of the close-air support platform with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as the service works on its fiscal 2018 budget request. He noted that the Air Force’s decision to retire the planes early was one driven solely by budgets to make up the $8 billion needed to meet budget caps. When the service offered combatant commands the option of retiring all the KC-10 tankers, F-15s, A-10s or B-1s, there was nothing to fill the other roles played by the other aircraft, so the A-10 was slated to be axed.
