Tom Cotton

As you have heard today, I would say all of the members of this subcommittee, as the full committee, are intent on increasing our defense budgets.

I have serious reservations, as does Senator McCain and many other Senators, about the plans to stop using the A-10.

Thank you. Just for the record, if we can get an update on that for my staff and the committee staff.

In the post-Cold War era, as the information technology revolution has taken over, we have to rethink the wisdom of trying to create these systems in the Federal Government rather than using commercially available, off-the-shelf systems.

Okay. Well, I mean, the National Assessment Group says that Palantir, the commercial system we are talking about, meets all requirements for advanced analytics.

But it is being used by the Marine Corps and Special Operations Forces. What capabilities does this commercially available alternative lack that the Marine Corps does not need that the Army needs?

Over the past 5 years, the current version of DCGS has struggled to provide its promised capabilities.

Thank you, Senator Manchin, for filling in for me while I was absent.

My sense on this is it would be lunacy from the perspective of America's national security to be decreasing even one combat soldier.

General Holmes, the Air Force is planning to soon ramp up the delivery of a total of 176 KC-46A tanker aircraft as replacements for your aging KC-135 fleet, and will require a replacement plan for your current tanker fleet.

General Wolters, the Air Force has experienced a chronic shortage of fighter pilots, currently forecasted as increasing to nearly 500 pilots by fiscal year 2020.

Secretary LaPlante, are any of your mature munitions programs likely candidates for multi-year procurement contracts to help reduce unit costs?

The Air Force simply has not been resourced to achieve required munitions inventory levels.

Thank you, Senator Sullivan.

I mean, the information just comes from any intelligence sensor. Whether it is a Joe out on the beach or whether it is a satellite in the sky, I mean, it is ultimately a database and then you have ways to manipulate and understand and…

General Holmes, when will Congress see your detailed plan for retirement of KC-135 aircraft as you start transitioning to the KC-46A?

While we are talking about solutions that are good enough or better than nothing, let us shift for a moment to the macro budget picture.

The U.S. Air Force is unquestionably the best and the most globally engaged air force on the planet.

I would point out that Russia, because of the falling price of oil, has implemented its own version of sequestration.

So I have to say then that if today is 2015, 2021--you said that those other fighters and the bomber are adequate to replace, but adequate in my opinion is not necessarily enough when it comes to supporting the troops on the ground that…

These increasingly aggressive activities by our adversaries is no coincidence as they observe our fiscal struggles, and therefore Congress must act to repeal the damaging effects of the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 funding caps and…

I apologize. I do not know if this is better directed towards General Williamson or the G-3s. Can we get an update on where these operational needs statements responses stand?

This approach, keeping sequestration in effect for fiscal year 2016, plusing up OCO spending, not good, better than nothing.

We have the smallest and oldest Air Force since our inception in 1947.

Instead of strengthening our military and ensuring our men and women in uniform have the comprehensive training and world-class equipment they need, sustained defense budget cuts, in combination with mindless sequestration, are damaging…