Thanks for the article Conrad...
via Defense News.
WASHINGTON — If sequester remains in effect, the US Air Force’s combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission is in danger of disappearing, according to multiple defense sources.Read the entire article but we're seeing budgetary madness going on here.
Funds for new CSAR helicopters are not included in the service’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal that includes sequestration spending cuts, the defense sources said. Moreover, funds to extend the lives of about 90 battle-worn Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters is not part of the sequester budget.
Each US military service is developing at least two budgets for 2015, one that includes sequestration spending cuts and another that builds on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which is $52 billion above the federal spending cap.
Funding for the Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program, which would purchase more than 100 helicopters for the CSAR mission, fell below the cutting line as the service struggles to find savings under a sequestered budget.
About two-thirds of the Pave Hawk fleet is flown and crewed by active-duty airmen, while the rest come from the Guard and reserve.
For months, the Air Force has been poised to award the contract to a Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin team — the only publicly announced bidders — but has held back the contract due to the budget uncertainty.
How can an organization as big as the Pentagon not be able to perform an in depth audit but is capable of giving lawmakers two different budgets?
Additionally how can the MV-22 receive full funding---with long lead contracts to boot, and yet this USAF mission critical, low density asset wither away?
Something is foul in Denmark. Is this another one of those ploys to get additional funding while protecting the F-35? Is the Pentagon attempting to blackmail Congress by saying "we must have the F-35" but the helicopter to rescue downed aviators is less important?
My respect for leadership in all the services continues to plummet. Where I once only saw incompetence, I now see the most vile behavior imaginable. The Pentagon needs an enema.
Well, I guess the F35 is so good, the Zoomies don't have to worry about being shot down.
ReplyDeleteya know i've had to rethink my whole thinking about CSAR. i like to chest thump on the Marine Corps being able to do ad hoc TRAP missions. the problem isn't doing it quickly. the problem is what happens when the enemy has a complex ADA and its more than a zoom in, shoot a couple of bad guys and zoom out.
Deletecomplex CSAR needs to be talked about more...to everyone, lawmakers, the military...everyone. i don't know how many people will take the time to consider the bad joo-joo that can happen to one of our people or the moral hit that comes with them knowing that if they go down, even for mechanical reasons that we won't be coming to get them.
1. The Pavehawk has massive parts commonality with Blackhawks and Seahawk helicopters. If it comes down to cannibalization to keep the CSAR birds in the air, that will happen.
ReplyDelete2. The selling point for the Pavehawk has always been the navigation band guidance systems. They were very special back in the day, but digital navigation and C2 suites are old hat for the Army now.
3. I don't know what sort of internal politics is going on in the Air Force, but I do know that Helicopter, Bomber, and Transport pilots are second class citizens at the O Club. I suspect that the brass (dominated by fighter jocks) looked at the Pavehawk budget as low hanging fruit to offer up to the insatiable alter of the the F-35.
4. PJ's fell under AFSOC last I checked, they may be relying on SOCOM or JSOC monies to backfill maintenance. This is pure supposition on my part.
5. In the Pentagon, dollars are weapons, and the Air Force is the enemy.
its really lining up exactly as you've outlined. the enemy is the Air Force and they're out to take it all. i didn't know the PJ's were back in SOCOM so maybe the situation isn't as bad as i'm thinking...especially if AFSOC is willing to pick up more of the slack for the conventional side of the house. as far as classes of citizens i've noticed the same thing. i get on rants and paint with broad brushes but the helo, transport and bomber guys are some of the most professional---i'll break my back to get it done kind of people i've met. i need to be a bit clearer in my critiques.
DeleteYears ago, I visited a place in Florida where these had all the final self-protection-systems put on them. The old civilian there, a retired chief stated that in the post cold war USAF this helo was sold to them by the fact that for SAR you could operate 3 of these for one of the big helicopters it replaced.SOLD! Even if these helicopters have some weight-performance issues. So anyway, they are cheap to operate. If you have trouble sustaining this program, you have real trouble. Stunning when you consider all the money we give USAF each year. No A-10, no CSAR don't know if the USAF will be left keeping around. What goes next year? This is like a crack addict still receiving a paycheck going to the pawn shop each week trying to make ends meet. Besides what the budget says, where is all the money going we give the USAF? Finally on CSAR....who rescued that F-15 crew in Libya? Who rescued Scott O'Grady?
ReplyDeleteyeah for the ad hoc rescues the USMC, Army and Navy can handle those with little difficulty (eveyone that flies in one has practiced it at least a couple dozen times) but like i said earlier, it would be nice to retain the capability in the USAF for the complex, fly almost to downtown baghdad and get the guys back ok. i wonder if its even possible and if its worth pursuing. i like to think it is, and i think the PJs are trying to figure out a way to do it with the GARRV truck they're testing but the push to fund (in the USAF----you know how i feel about the Marines) the F-35, Tanker and the scrapping of everything else is concerning.
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