▶ 0:26:48Chair Wicker: We consider the nomination of kenneth wilsbach to serve as the next chief of staff of the united states army for us. We thank him and his family for their commitment to lead in this dangerous time. The united states air force as a critical pillar of our joint force. It is the most capable and lethal air force in history. We saw their expertise on full display in this year's operation midnight hammer.
▶ 0:27:16Chair Wicker: This was a complex, high risk strike package that was launched from long range, coordinated across multiple domains, and carried out with surgical precision. With this operation, president trump sent a clear message to our adversaries. American era supremacy is unparalleled and it has a global reach. In his long career of service, general wilsbach has supported that air supremacy.
▶ 0:27:44Chair Wicker: The general brings deep operational experience and understands what it takes to lead in contested environments. If confirmed, he will manage tight budgets. He must speak plainly about the risks, resourcing, and that it is inadequate. I already mentioned operation midnight hammer. That operation demonstrated capability, but it was only a moment of time.
▶ 0:28:14Chair Wicker: It was one of the most challenging and enduring issues. Among those are the ongoing pilot shortage. Modernization of our aging nuclear systems. The sustainment of our current aircraft fleet and the expansion of our fighter refueling and cargo fleets. As to fleet sustainment, we must all acknowledge the ongoing problem with aircraft availability. Too many advanced fighters are sitting idle on ramps.
▶ 0:28:47Chair Wicker: The readiness rates of our aircraft continue to fall short of pentagon goals. This is not only on this side of the ocean and around the world. The force is plagued by persistent parts shortages, long repair times, and sustainment costs that strain operational budgets. The air force cannot protect power if its most advanced fighter cannot get off the ground. We will hear how general wilsbach will address this.
▶ 0:29:17Chair Wicker: This committee also recognizes the air force pushed to retire legacy platforms to fund modernization. We need a realistic plan to address the readiness gaps created in the interim. We need aircraft that fly, bases that survive missile attacks, and logistics that support operations far from home. That includes hardened infrastructure and pre-position supplies. We must ensure air men are trained and equipped for austere, contested environments.
▶ 0:29:48Chair Wicker: Some of the gaps in these capabilities have been created by an ill advised divest to invest strategy, and these caps are unacceptable. This committee remains concerned by the slow pace of nuclear modernization. China, russia, and north korea are rapidly expanding their arsenals, quickly eroding the advantages we seek to retain.
▶ 0:30:14Chair Wicker: Deterring nuclear aggression remains the department's top mission. The air force is the very tip of that spear. I look forward to hearing how general wilsbach intends to make nuclear modernization programs a top priority. Finally, none of this works without people. Recruiting has begun to stabilize, but retention is the greater challenge.
▶ 0:30:39Chair Wicker: The air force continues to face a consistent pilot shortage, with readiness shortfalls that keep pilots from flying. Retaining pilots, maintenance and technical specialists, requires sustained investment across the full lifecycle of an airman. Service in the air force must be a first choice career, not a fallback. So thank you for being here.
▶ 0:31:09Chair Wicker: Thank you for your willingness to serve. I turn to my friendly colleague, ranking member read.
▶ 0:31:15Sen. Reed: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Welcome, general wilsbach. Congratulations on your nomination. I welcome your family here today, and thank your wife for her many years of service at your side. General, you are exceptionally well qualified to lead the air force.
▶ 0:31:36Sen. Reed: During your tenure as an air combat commander, who helped the armed services through a critical period of modernization, and you have extensive leadership experience at every level, from squadron to wing man, across the globe. If confirmed, you will lead at a challenging time. Airpower is the center of strategic competition with china and other adversaries. The entire joint force depends on the air force's capabilities every day.
▶ 0:32:05Sen. Reed: The service must balance global operations with the need to modernize aircraft and systems for the future. A key part of that modernization is how the air force manages and uses data to fight more effectively. The service is developing advanced networks and command and control systems that will integrate information across domains. These efforts will shape how we detect threats, process information, and act quickly on the battlefield.
▶ 0:32:33Sen. Reed: I would like to know how you plan to continue resourcing and evolving these technologies to retain our edge. The U.S. air force commands the most capable airpower in the world. Our recent consecutive budget requests have proposed realigning hundreds of aircraft across all missions. Any such proposals deserve careful scrutiny.
▶ 0:32:55Sen. Reed: We must consider whether these reductions are prudent in the near term, and evaluate the impact on our industrial base, to ensure we do not make shortsighted decisions that we can our production and sustainment capabilities. I would like to know how you would approach these and how you would manage structure adjustments going forward.
▶ 0:33:16Sen. Reed: I am encouraged by the air force's renewed focus on contested logistics and its work to make operations more agile and resilient, particularly in the indo pacific. The service has been developing a concept for dispersed operation at airfields across the region called agile combat, which would be vital to ensuring survivability and operational reach in a future conflict.
▶ 0:33:43Sen. Reed: I would appreciate your views on how to further develop this approach and strengthen logistics which contested conditions will make more difficult. Finally, I want to address the tense political environment in which you will be confirmed. The military faces an increasingly politicized and divisive climate. Combat commanders and senior officers must navigate contentious issues that can erode public trust and distract from the mission.
▶ 0:34:11Sen. Reed: Many have already been dismissed for reasons that are still difficult to understand. It will be essential for you to stand firmly by your air men and guardians, defend their professionalism, and provide your best honest military advice to leaders, regardless of political pressure. I hope you will commit to do so today. General, the challenges before you are complex and consequential. Thank you for your continued service and willingness to lead at this critical moment.
▶ 0:34:41Sen. Reed: I look forward to your testimony. Again, thank you.
▶ 0:34:43Chair Wicker: Thank you, senator reed, for that statement. I will now ask you a series of standard questions this committee poses to all military nominees. Simply a yes or no is asked for. To exercise this legislative and oversight responsibilities, this committee and other appropriate committees of the congress must be able to receive testimony, briefings, and other communications of information.
▶ 0:35:14Chair Wicker: Have you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest?
▶ 0:35:19Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, chairman.
▶ 0:35:21Chair Wicker: Do you agree when asked to give your personal views even if those views differ from the administration and power?
▶ 0:35:28Gen. Wilsbach: Yes.
▶ 0:35:29Chair Wicker: Will you ensure any duties or actions were not taken to presume the outcome of the confirmation process? Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications, including questions for the record at hearings?
▶ 0:35:46Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, chairman.
▶ 0:35:48Chair Wicker: Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefings in response to congressional requests? Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony?
▶ 0:35:59Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, chair.
▶ 0:36:00Chair Wicker: Do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify upon request before this committee?
▶ 0:36:08Gen. Wilsbach: Yes.
▶ 0:36:09Chair Wicker: Do you agree to provide documents including electronic forms in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the committee regarding the basis for a good-faith delay or denial and in providing such documents?
▶ 0:36:27Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, chairman.
▶ 0:36:29Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. And now you are recognized for your opening statement.
▶ 0:36:37Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you and good morning. Chairman wicker, ranking member read, and distinguished members of the committee, it is an honor to appear before you today and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you. I look forward to our discussions in the hours ahead. More importantly, if confirmed, I look forward to working closely with each of you, and with your colleagues in the senate and the house, to advance the strength and the readiness of the air force.
▶ 0:37:07Gen. Wilsbach: I am incredibly grateful to president trump for the trust and confidence he has placed in me with this nomination to serve as the next chief of staff of the air force. I recognize the enormous responsibility that comes with this position, especially in the global security environment. If confirmed, I pledge to give my all to successfully fulfill the duties of the office on behalf of the american people.
▶ 0:37:34Gen. Wilsbach: Our nation relies on the air force to deliver air superiority, nuclear and conventional global strike, rapid mobility, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. These are no failed missions. They are critical to our national security, particularly in and increasingly dangerous world.
▶ 0:37:57Gen. Wilsbach: While peace is always our goal, it must be preserved through strength come up with a military so capable, lethal, and decisive that no adversary would choose to challenge us. If confirmed, I see two priorities as central to ensuring that strength -- readiness and modernization. The most important thing we do as an air force is fly and fix airplanes.
▶ 0:38:24Gen. Wilsbach: And we must field new capabilities as rapidly as possible. And I believe empowering command teams to hold themselves and their air men to the highest warrior standards are the keys to success. I would like to share a little bit about myself and my family. I served in the air force for nearly 40 years, since I graduated from college.
▶ 0:38:48Gen. Wilsbach: My wife, cindy, who is seated behind me, has been my partner through every step of that journey. She has been with me through my entire career. She has always had a full-time job, but she has always made time for families of servicemembers I have served with. Her compassion, her leadership and care, have touched so many lives of air men, spouses, and families.
▶ 0:39:15Gen. Wilsbach: I know I would not be here today if it was not for our shared faith and cyndi's selfless service and sacrifice. In many ways, she has served the air force every much as I have. Service runs deep in both of our families. Cindy's dad was a marine. Her stepdad was a career national guardsmen from the state of florida. My grandfathers both fought in world war ii. One was a marine and one was a submariner.
▶ 0:39:44Gen. Wilsbach: My father was a career navy pilot. Two of my uncles, who graduated from west point, our career army officers. When it came time for me to's -- to choose my service, I chose the air force to round out our joint family. In case you were wondering, we are still working on our draft pick for the space force. I am thankful for my family's legacy of service and for their love and support of me throughout my entire career. I will close with this.
▶ 0:40:13Gen. Wilsbach: Cindy and I had planned to retire to our home state of florida and begin the next chapter of our lives this year, and then I received a call to continue my service. After much reflection and prayer, I said yes, because I love this country and I love -- I love the air force.
▶ 0:40:31Gen. Wilsbach: My greatest motivation remains young airmen, especially those enlisted who are doing the hard work every day, like manning missile silos, guarding flight lines, and turning wrenches, flying on the leading edge of carrying out the many duties that make our air force strong. I am humbled by the opportunity and I just want to thank you for your time today and your consideration of my nomination. I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
▶ 0:40:58Chair Wicker: Thank you very much, general. I will begin with my five minute time. Of questioning. I have asked this to almost every nominee. Much of the funding in the defense reconciliation bill is unspecific because of our rules, and will technically be at the discretion of the department of defense, the we have provided recommendations for you. A quick yes or no answer.
▶ 0:41:27Chair Wicker: Will you carry out congressional intent for reconciliation funding in the one big beautiful bill?
▶ 0:41:32Gen. Wilsbach: Senator, I will carry out funding in accordance with the law, and I will strive to do my best with the intent of congress as well.
▶ 0:41:47Chair Wicker: So that is not an explicit answer, is it?
▶ 0:41:52Gen. Wilsbach: No, but I definitely will follow the law, senator.
▶ 0:41:57Chair Wicker: Let me ask you about one of the things that I mentioned in my opening statement. Over the past several years, air force has faced persistent decline in overall aircraft mission capable rates. This includes the f-22, f-35, and even the casey 46 falling well below readiness targets.
▶ 0:42:24Chair Wicker: You are going to have a job changing this, but it absolutely has got to be changed. We have got to reverse this rate of declining mission capabilities. How are you going to do that, sir?
▶ 0:42:42Gen. Wilsbach: The first thing, senator -- we have got a head start on this with the budgets that we are employing right now and we expect in the near future. But we need to fund the weapons system sustainment accounts at a much higher level than they are funded at this point.
▶ 0:43:03Gen. Wilsbach: What is happening as the aircraft are flying -- we have the people available to fix them, but they need a part and turn around to the shelf to pull the part off the shelf, and it is not there. It is because we have not funded those accounts to the degree where --
▶ 0:43:18Chair Wicker: That is completely funding?
▶ 0:43:21Gen. Wilsbach: It is not completely funding, but that is a large part of it. The other aspect I concentrated on in my last job at air combat command is having commanders and their senior enlisted leaders focus on their aircraft on a daily basis, to look at what are the issues, and then the enterprise comes to help them.
▶ 0:43:47Gen. Wilsbach: Often, a wing at a particular base will need a part, and that part is somewhere else, and they can reach out to every single day to the enterprise and get that part moving, but it is an emphasis on daily attention to the maintenance of the fleet.
▶ 0:44:02Chair Wicker: This has been a problem for a while, and it has not been fixed. So you will be charged with making a quantum change. Let me ask you this. For the record -- I think I know your answer. I certainly hope I do. The airflight 2020 six budget request proposes eliminating program funding of roughly $75 million for junior rotc.
▶ 0:44:37Chair Wicker: I think this is completely wrongheaded and foolish, and I need your assurance that we are not going to zero out junior rotc.
▶ 0:44:56Gen. Wilsbach: Senator, thank you for your concern about this. I share that. I think that junior rotc is a fantastic program where we can expose young people to what it might be like to serve in this case in the air force, or junior rotc for the other services as well.
▶ 0:45:18Gen. Wilsbach: It also perhaps allows us to have a greater pool for recruiting because it exposes those young people to the corporate values of our service earlier on and perhaps may stave off things that could potentially disqualify them at a future point like drug use or crime. Keep their physical fitness in check as well as their grades.
▶ 0:45:43Gen. Wilsbach: So I am supportive of junior rotc and I look forward to working with you further on this because I would like to see it funded.
▶ 0:45:51Chair Wicker: Thank you very much for that answer. You mentioned that you intend to enforce the law. This committee and this congress , through legislation signed by the president of the united states, have four years ordered that junior rotc be expanded,
▶ 0:46:22Chair Wicker: With specific numbers. And this is not, in our judgment, advisory. It is the law, and we intend for it to be followed and abided by. So I appreciate that assurance and would join you in saying that not only is it a great recruiting tool for all of our branches of the service, but it is a citizenship builder and it represents a subset in almost every school of higher achievers
▶ 0:46:55Chair Wicker: And more advanced graduates. So thank you for your answer there. Senator reed?
▶ 0:47:01Sen. Reed: Thank you, Mr. chairman. As I mentioned in my opening statement, contested logistics would be a critical factor in any conflict. As I mentioned also, the agile combat employment system is being developed. Can you talk about the capability and concepts that are shaping that new system, and how you will provide logistics support and support yourself in that context?
▶ 0:47:31Gen. Wilsbach: Since we only have four minutes and 30 seconds left, I will go quickly, because I could talk all day long about this. The thing that is important about contested logistics is pre-positioning. Ahead of time, while there is no threat or very limited threat, we purchase equipment and supplies and put them in places where we intend to operate from.
▶ 0:47:52Gen. Wilsbach: One of the most important things we can do to minimize especially the pressure on the system at the beginning of a conflict, because the stuff you need is going to be at the place where you are operating from at the beginning, and you don't have to immediately start resupplying. Pre-positioning, really important. The other thing is camouflage and concealment. The things you put there, you don't want it to be a sitting duck target. You want to try to hide it away.
▶ 0:48:22Gen. Wilsbach: The last thing is multiple modes of travel. Surface and air for those in the pacific and other places around the planet you can use roads and rails as well, and taking advantage of all modes of traffic -- of trouble to get it there. In some cases, you will have to use -- you only will be able to use military because of the threat level. But if there is an opportunity to contract that in, that is another option as well.
▶ 0:48:50Sen. Reed: And as we discussed yesterday, that is a reason why the military should have the intellectual property of fighting systems it deploys going forward, so that soldiers, airmen, and sailors can fix the equipment in the field.
▶ 0:49:07Gen. Wilsbach: I agree.
▶ 0:49:11Sen. Reed: You mentioned your priorities are readiness and modernization. Readiness is tied to sustainment costs, which are difficult to control. The f-35 is the classic example. I think it is about $39,000 an hour to sustain. That is one of the reasons why, as the chairman indicated, we are not retaining pilots, because they sit around in the simulator all day. It is not as fun as flying.
▶ 0:49:40Sen. Reed: What are we going to do to improve readiness with respect to sustainability?
▶ 0:49:45Gen. Wilsbach: We definitely have to invest in those accounts, so the parts are on the shelves when the aircraft flies. Incidentally, just speaking of the f-35, when the aircraft begins its flight and takes off, and they are fixed, they fly for an extended number of sorties before they break the next time. The problem with the f-35 is now they have to wait for the part to be shipped.
▶ 0:50:14Gen. Wilsbach: So investing in those parts so that they are on the shelf, so airmen that work on the flight line can turn around to the shelves, grab the part, put it in the airplane -- know it will perhaps be several more days before that jet needs to be maintained again. All that time where it is sitting waiting for that part is down time where we cannot use the aircraft to train. So that investment is really important to backfill the shelves with parts.
▶ 0:50:43Sen. Reed: Trending topics -- the air force plans to reduce force structure on a number of platforms, including the u-2. Will that cause a significant and consequential detriment in the ability of our services to operate, without these platforms?
▶ 0:51:07Gen. Wilsbach: Right now, we are in a transition. We have in the past used airborne platforms quite a bit. You mentioned many of them. Those have served us well. We are in a transition, moving much of our cousins into a space-based platform. A lot of it is staying power.
▶ 0:51:40Gen. Wilsbach: The satellite is there collecting nonstop. That being said, in that transition, we do get a lot of service out of some of our current platforms. There is an argument where, for example, an mq9 is not survivable in a highly contested environment. True statement.
▶ 0:52:07Gen. Wilsbach: But there are a lot of environments where it is not contested, and that platform provides a benefit to us. I think we need to strike a balance as we transition.
▶ 0:52:18Sen. Fischer: Good morning, general, and welcome. General coming we must ensure that the b 21 fleet is sized appropriately, to ensure that the united states sustains the dominance in our air based leg of our triad. If confirmed, what factors will you consider in determining how many b 21's the air force should procure?
▶ 0:52:44Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator, and thanks for time in your office earlier this week. The b 21 is going to be an amazing platform. It is coming off the production line as we speak. We received two test articles and it is going well from the standpoint of timeline. I expect great things with it.
▶ 0:53:09Gen. Wilsbach: As we look at the global threat and the ability for our platforms that we have in the air force -- not just the b 21 but all of our platforms -- to service the needs of the combatant commanders, not just one, but all of them -- that allows you to do the very complicated math problem of how many we need. As you know, the current program record for the b 21 is 100 aircraft.
▶ 0:53:38Gen. Wilsbach: I look forward to working with you and determining if that is the correct number as we go forward.
▶ 0:53:45Sen. Fischer: We spoke about this when we met earlier, and the strut calm commander has said that we should have at least 145 b 21 bombers. At the time that we were visiting, you suggested that perhaps b-52s could also fill in there. I tend to disagree with you on that.
▶ 0:54:11Sen. Fischer: I think it is important to be able to trust the judgment of our strut calm commander on what is needed with regard to the bombers, especially when we have to look at the congested area they are going to be flying in, the dangerous environments they are going to fly in it.
▶ 0:54:38Sen. Fischer: So I hope that you will work -- the secretary will work with our strut calm commander, and work with this committee as well -- stratcom commander and this committee to make sure we take into consideration everything on that front.
▶ 0:54:56Gen. Wilsbach: I absolutely will, senator.
▶ 0:55:01Sen. Fischer: I know we will have discussions. And I appreciated that you unequivocally agree that maintaining a credible and effective nuclear deterrent is, in your assessment, the department's highest priority mission, and modernizing our nuclear forces is a critical national security imperative.
▶ 0:55:23Sen. Fischer: I understand the department is continuing to find ways to accelerate and improve the sentinel program as it moves toward a milestone, and keeping this program on track should be the air force's top priority. We also must ensure it remains credible as we complete that transition to the sentinel. We also discussed that.
▶ 0:55:50Sen. Fischer: If confirmed, will you commit to using all available tools to support the sentinel program and sustain the minuteman system as long as necessary?
▶ 0:55:59Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator. I will.
▶ 0:56:04Sen. Fischer: Thank you. What do you think a proposal to restructure how the department manages high-profile programs like sentinel by utilizing the direct reporting program managers? Would having that senior leaders solely focusing on improving and managing these programs be beneficial, in your opinion?
▶ 0:56:22Gen. Wilsbach: It would, senator. I am supportive.
▶ 0:56:27Sen. Fischer: Thank you. Last question, on munitions. I have a focus on munitions, and obviously we talked a little bit about that as well. How do you view working with companies so that we can really increase that munitions production capacity?
▶ 0:56:51Sen. Fischer: As we have learned over the last several years, modern conflicts expend munitions at a much faster pace than we have traditionally planned for. So how would you approach that? We talk about it all the time. We have for over three years. I tend to worry about that. Put my mind at ease.
▶ 0:57:15Gen. Wilsbach: Two parts for that we should concentrate on. One is to hold the contractors and companies manufacturing munitions to the contract they signed, and pressure them to make sure they are meeting the contract. On the government side, the most important thing we can do is to provide predictable and stable demand signal. When we adjust and vacillate, it scares the company's, and then they underinvest.
▶ 0:57:44Gen. Wilsbach: And then what happens is they slow down. So it is both sides. When we make the contract, we need to be stable and predictable.
▶ 0:57:53Sen. Fischer: Thank you. I appreciate your service and that of your family.
▶ 0:58:00Sen. Hirono: Welcome to you and your wife. Thank you for your service. And of course, as former commander of the pacific air force. I ask the following initial questions of nominees on all of my committees to ensure the fitness to serve, so I will ask you these questions. Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?
▶ 0:58:27Gen. Wilsbach: No, senator.
▶ 0:58:31Sen. Hirono: Have you faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?
▶ 0:58:35Gen. Wilsbach: No, senator.
▶ 0:58:40Sen. Hirono: Successive administrations have identified china as the pacing threat to U.S. national security, the indo pacific as the priority theater. It is concerning that there are some rumors, recent reporting, that the draft national defense strategy d prioritizes the challenges posed by china.
▶ 0:59:02Sen. Hirono: General, as the former commander of pacific air force, you are acutely aware of the threat posed by china to our interests in the indo pacific ao or -- aor. Would you agree that china continues to be a significant or the most significant threat to U.S. national security?
▶ 0:59:24Gen. Wilsbach: First of all, aloha. And yes, I would agree.
▶ 0:59:32Sen. Hirono: That is reassuring. I don't think we can afford to take our eyes off the threats posed by china. Recent news reports have indicated senior military leaders, including chairman kaine, have expressed serious concerns over the draft mds's shift to the homeland and western hemisphere.
▶ 0:59:55Sen. Hirono: If confirmed, will you commit to providing your best military advice to the secretary of defense regarding this matter, even if it is not what he wants to hear?
▶ 1:00:06Gen. Wilsbach: I will, senator.
▶ 1:00:11Sen. Hirono: General, our strong network of allies and partners in the indo pacific is one of our greatest advantages. We have a lot of military exercises with these partners. It is one of our greatest advantages over china and must remain a priority in the national defense strategy.
▶ 1:00:35Sen. Hirono: Recent exercises like resolute for specific play a critical role in testing the air force's ability to strengthen our capability, interoperability, and our readiness with our regional partners. These exercises involved over 20 five partner nations. Can you share some of the key lessons learned from the exercise I referred to?
▶ 1:01:05Sen. Hirono: And if confirmed, would you commit to prioritize funding for future air force exercises and training in the indo pacific, which are vital to enhancing our relationships with our allies and partners in the region?
▶ 1:01:18Gen. Wilsbach: The second part of your question first -- yes, I will commit not only to the pacific, but to allies and partners all over the world. As far as the lessons learned, when you mentioned straightaway was the value of bringing allies and partners together. What you realize from that is interoperability, and in some cases interchangeability.
▶ 1:01:42Gen. Wilsbach: And when you get that, any adversary that watches that, they don't have to just worry about the united states. They have to worry about the united states plus all of those partners we have. Together, it is extremely valuable deterrence. That is probably the biggest thing.
▶ 1:01:59Sen. Hirono: Thank you. With the ongoing retirement of the aging e3 fleet, the pacific air force has recognized an urgent need to field a replacement for early warning and control aircraft as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the air force initially canceled funding in the f 26 budget for the e seven ridge tail, which is set to replace the e3, only reversing course after both the house and senate moved to restore funding.
▶ 1:02:33Sen. Hirono: General, given the importance of the e seven two operations in the indo pacific and the acknowledged delays in space based alternatives, will you support this program in future budgets?
▶ 1:02:46Gen. Wilsbach: Senator, the requirement is for domain awareness. I support programs that provide us domain awareness. So as we go forward, I look forward to working with you and the other members of the committee to figure out what is the platform that provides domain awareness, because I know that combatant commanders of all geographical combatant commanders are going to need domain awareness.
▶ 1:03:17Sen. Hirono: The aircraft has been a long time coming and I think we need to stay the course.
▶ 1:03:22Sen. Cotton: General, congratulations on your nomination and thank you for your lifetime of service to our nation. I want to return to the theme of the readiness crisis, because it deeply concerns me. We have pilots today taking on risks flying combat missions in jets that have not been updated since the 1990's. If fighter procurement stays where it is now, where are we taking the biggest risks over the next decade?
▶ 1:03:52Gen. Wilsbach: We have talked about the readiness of the aircraft, the availability of the aircraft. Half of the aircraft we have -- it is not the exact figure, but let's say half of the aircraft are available on a given day. That means you cannot fly a full fleet. What that means is the pilots -- the crews are not trained. The first thing you do is sustain the weapons system. Sustain so we get the aircraft availability up.
▶ 1:04:24Gen. Wilsbach: Now, the pilots cannot train on a regular basis. You look at any professional sports person, athlete, that practices two times a week. They practice almost every day. Our pilots are flying about two and a half times a week in a fighter aircraft. That is not enough.
▶ 1:04:43Gen. Wilsbach: That is why on my last assignment I made it a requirement for air combat command fighter pilots to fly a minimum of three times a when I was a lieutenant, I threw it -- I flew almost four and a half times a week. That would allow the proficiency we can develop so we are ready.
▶ 1:05:01Sen. Cotton: So fair to say that today's young lieutenants and captains and our fighters are not getting the same level of training and preparation that lieutenant wilsbach got back in the day?
▶ 1:05:13Gen. Wilsbach: I believe that is true. They have an advantage I did not have, which is that the simulators we have today are highly capable. There is a lot of value in simulators. We did not have that when I was young. We made up for it by flying more. That is why I dictated three sorties a week versus more than that.
▶ 1:05:33Sen. Cotton: Can our current fifth generation fighters execute our major combat operational plans without a fourth generation fleet?
▶ 1:05:42Gen. Wilsbach: Doubtful. The fourth generation brings a lot of capabilities. For example, the f-15 is an incredible work course that is going to be able to fire some of the more long-range weapons that do not actually fit in the weapons bays of fifth generation aircraft.
▶ 1:06:03Gen. Wilsbach: You can also use the fourth generation for missions that do not require penetrating into highly contested environments like the defense that tends to be defending your basis, etc.. The fourth generation would obviously be doing homeland defense as well, which in the current environment, you cannot just -- you cannot just write off the fact that you won't be targeted because the nature of the threats are global now.
▶ 1:06:31Sen. Cotton: I agree that it is doubtful at best, probably. Given all that, are we currently flying our legacy fleet at a significant risk level? Do you expect that risk to increase over the next decade?
▶ 1:06:42Gen. Wilsbach: I think the risk level is appropriate and the commanders have authority to adjust that on a daily basis. The crews know what that means, in terms of execution.
▶ 1:06:56Sen. Cotton: I am still concerned about the risks we are accepting as we wait for new capabilities to come online. If confirmed, would you be willing to leverage additional fighter production to replace our oldest jets and strengthen our strike fighter fleet, if congress can find the funds and send them your way?
▶ 1:07:17Gen. Wilsbach: Absolutely.
▶ 1:07:20Sen. Cotton: Thank you. Finally, you probably know that fort smith is the home now of the f-35 national training mission. We stood up this mission in record time thanks to all hands on deck cooperation from the air force, the air national guard, and state and local partners. Arkansas is already producing combat ready f-35 pilots for our allies.
▶ 1:07:46Sen. Cotton: Can I get your commitment to ensuring that ending in her national guard base continues to receive the resources it needs to effectively train our allied pilots?
▶ 1:07:54Gen. Wilsbach: I can.
▶ 1:07:58Sen. Cotton: Thank you very much.
▶ 1:07:58Chair Wicker: Senator kaine?
▶ 1:08:02Sen. Kaine: Congratulations, general. I appreciated the opportunity we had to visit the other day. Ukraine's operation spiders web demonstrated how russian aircraft were left out in the open.
▶ 1:08:20Sen. Kaine: The army has been designated the executive agent for managing the operation of defending the department, but the air force obviously has a vested interest in timely, effective solutions to this challenge, and I imagine you are particularly familiar with the challenge because of your assignment at joint base langley. Tell the committee how you are thinking about the counter you a s threat. What coordination do you expect he will help with the other stakeholders to deal with the threat?
▶ 1:08:49Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator. Great to see you again and thanks for your time the other day. First thing. There is offensive counter -- excuse me. There is offensive you a.s., which you addressed, and then there is the defense side. They are both things we have to take on and improve our capability. Let's talk defense. You mentioned langley, which happened in december of 2023.
▶ 1:09:20Gen. Wilsbach: The current defensive systems we have are not adequate for the current threat. We actually need to acquire systems that work. It is very complex in the U.S. because it is very easy to shoot the stem with kinetic weapons, but you obviously would not want to do that in a city because bullets drop on somebody's home. So you have to do this non-kinetically. The equipment we purchase for the states has to work.
▶ 1:09:52Gen. Wilsbach: That is the defensive side. On the offensive side, it is very difficult. We are seeing the success ukraine is having with these. It is very difficult to defend against these, and they are seeing success in their battle with the russians by using these systems. They are very inexpensive. They are on the right side of the cost curve. We should invest in that capability.
▶ 1:10:15Gen. Wilsbach: The secretary of war has recently stood up task force 401 that is helping all of the services to understand what is the best equipment to buy. Almost every company I talked to has a deal they want to sell you, a widget that will do this. It is very difficult to cut through the wheat and the chaff. Find the wheat in the chaff. That is what they are going to help us with, as well as the authorities.
▶ 1:10:44Gen. Wilsbach: That was another lesson learned that came up during the december 2023 at langley, was the complex rules of engagement and authorities that were available to us at the time.
▶ 1:10:57Sen. Kaine: Local law enforcement, the faa.
▶ 1:11:02Gen. Wilsbach: The fbi, everybody. So we have got to cut through that and make the rules of engagement and the understanding of the authorities much clearer.
▶ 1:11:12Sen. Kaine: Do you have a sense how far down the road we are on that? We have been saying that we need to do that. We recognize that from december 2023. We have the authority's problem especially in domestic airspace when we need to coordinate. Do you have a sense of how the stakeholder process is going or how far down the road we are?
▶ 1:11:30Gen. Wilsbach: Even since before 401 stood up, we had moved and there were additional authorities and we had a lot more clarity even before that stood up. We still have more work to do. I feel very confident in the interagency process. All the stakeholders are meeting and making good progress. I'm confident we are going to get to a good spot.
▶ 1:11:52Sen. Kaine: So my take away is we still have more to do, but we do not have the platforms we need to successfully defend against this threat now. So that is something we have to pay attention to as we are thinking about probably next year's ndaa. You mentioned the word widget. You are familiar with the probert that begins for want of a nail? For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost is the way it goes.
▶ 1:12:20Sen. Kaine: It is attributed to the poet george herbert, or benjamin franklin, or shakespeare. But I think we all get with the proverb means. You talk about this maintenance issue. One of the issues you described in particular is parts. If you don't have the right parts, you cannot fix the planes. You cannot fix the planes, folks can't fly. What do we need to do to fix this parts problem? Is it all a matter of private industry?
▶ 1:12:47Sen. Kaine: Are there things the air force can do with manufacturing and other innovations?
▶ 1:12:53Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, we do need to fund the parts. It is generally more economical, because the industry would make the parts in bulk, than to make them one at a time. That is very expensive even if you do it yourself. It becomes very expensive. But in a crisis you would like to be able to have that capability. For example, if you are deployed to a small island in the pacific and you are in a conflict, having that capability is something to look into.
▶ 1:13:25Sen. Kaine: I yelled back.
▶ 1:13:26Chair Wicker: -- I yield back.
▶ 1:13:30Chair Wicker: Thank you senator rounds.
▶ 1:13:36Sen. Rounds: Let me begin by thanking you and your family for your service already to this country. Appreciate your consideration coming back out and taking on a more challenging position at this time. I shared with you while we were visiting in my office that there is one area in particular that I ask almost every single force commander that comes before us.
▶ 1:13:56Sen. Rounds: That has to do with regard to the concern over spectrum and the need to protect spectrum that is critical for the defense of our country, including those different bands for communication and radar. So I will begin by simply saying that I think forcing the department of defense to vacate or share in a suboptimal manner the 3.1 to 3.45 gigahertz and the 7.4 to 8.4 gigahertz bands
▶ 1:14:29Sen. Rounds: Of the spectrum will have significant consequences for homeland defense missions and force protection of our deployed forces. General, how important is spectrum to the american military?
▶ 1:14:44Gen. Wilsbach: It is almost everything, senator. We you spectrum's based on the characteristic of that spectrum, and we invent capability using that physics for our advantage. And if we have to move out of that spectrum, we then have to invent nearly a new technology to be able to come -- to accomplish the mission we have already spent countless dollars to be able to use that part of the spectrum for the purpose of military objectives.
▶ 1:15:14Gen. Wilsbach: So, moving out, one, he may not be able to invent the new technology if you are in a different spectrum. And if you do it is going to take you a while and be expensive.
▶ 1:15:25Sen. Rounds: The U.S. navy, in terms of their discussion in front of this committee, indicated that the cost for them just for their destroyers, the radar that was on their destroyers, would have been about a quarter of a trillion dollars. 250 billion dollars, and approximately 20 years to move to other parts of the spectrum. And we were specifically talking about the 3.1 to 3.15 gigahertz band.
▶ 1:15:55Sen. Rounds: Is that impact the air force's capabilities?
▶ 1:15:57Gen. Wilsbach: It does. In today's world the joint forces interconnect, and we cannot one another for situational awareness, weapons employment, and many other things. And if the navy is not capable of providing situational awareness, then there might not in a. In this case we all rely on one another. We do the same thing for them.
▶ 1:16:26Gen. Wilsbach: We provide them situational awareness at times because we are together.
▶ 1:16:29Sen. Rounds: Would be fair to say that china would love for us to eliminate the use or delivery of the spectrum in the 3.1 to 3.45 and 7.4 to 7.84 gigahertz band? Would love to see that restricted to commercial use?
▶ 1:16:46Gen. Wilsbach: Not only would it be fair to say that they are lobbying us to move out of that spectrum, and yet at the same time they are building their systems use that same part of the spectrum. It makes you wonder why.
▶ 1:16:59Sen. Rounds: Because it has the best physics doesn't it? For that particular purpose? I will share with you, in the past uniformed officers have had to stand up to individuals with suits and ties and they have had to make very clear that this is a significant threat to being able to defend our country. Are you prepared to stand up to those individuals that don't wear uniform but wear a suit and tie and tell them specifically how critical this is -- this issue of spectrum management is?
▶ 1:17:29Gen. Wilsbach: I am, senator.
▶ 1:17:31Sen. Rounds: Senator fischer did a nice job of explaining how critical we believe the development and the deployment of the b 21 bomber is. I fully support her belief that more than 100 are necessary, and I understand that while you are not met position, you're going to have to work with a lot of people. Would it be fair to say that as the analyses continue to come in within 100 may very well be required?
▶ 1:18:01Sen. Rounds: In that case or you. To advocate for that higher number?
▶ 1:18:04Gen. Wilsbach: If confirmed, I will.
▶ 1:18:06Sen. Rounds: Thank you, sir. You raise a really interesting thing when you talk about parts ndf -- f-35. We may have a broken piece and it may take a couple of days to get it back in, and that is expensive.
▶ 1:18:26Sen. Rounds: At what point do we decide that if the piece breaks time and time again, how easy is it or what do we do about actually getting the piece to be modified so it is not breaking once a week?
▶ 1:18:38Gen. Wilsbach: That is normal business for us, senator. We analyze things like that. So, you have a particular part must say it is an electrical generator on an aircraft and we realize it is continually breaking we go back to the manufacturer of that part and we say, you need to redesign it and get back out to us so that it is on the aircraft for a longer period of time.
▶ 1:19:08Gen. Wilsbach: That is normal business for us.
▶ 1:19:10Sen. Rounds: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:19:13Chair Wicker: Senator king.
▶ 1:19:15Sen. King: I never thought I would be at the hearing when the exciting and sexy topic of maintenance be dominating the discussion. But it is critically important for all of the reasons you have mentioned, general. A couple of points that have been touched upon. We are in the world of 3d printing. And it can 3d printing with metal. So, two points. I think the ranking member manchin this.
▶ 1:19:44Sen. King: Should be buying the ip with every platform we buy. We should have the intellectual property so we have the right to print parts. I believe every hanger should have a 3d printer. They are not that expensive, and it is sort of the right to repair idea. That is one point. Second, I would hope, given what I believe you characterize as a serious problem if not a crisis, that you would convene a high level team to take a blank sheet of paper and say, what is the problem? What are the bottlenecks?
▶ 1:20:16Sen. King: Is it parts? Is it workforce? What is slowing us down? If delta airlines had availability of 50% or 60% of their -- airplanes there would be out of business. These are expensive. I commend to you those two suggestions. I hope that is something you might be considering.
▶ 1:20:35Gen. Wilsbach: Absolutely. In fact, I did this in my last job. Did exactly what you said. Get the team together, pad and pencil, and, what are the issues causing us the problems and one of the things we can do to fix it? If confirmed I would like to expand that to the rest of the air force.
▶ 1:20:54Gen. Wilsbach: On the 3d printing, we do quite a bit of 3d printing already, and the innovation of our airmen to figure out how to do that is incredible, and I take your suggestion that we could look at expanding that and it would be valuable to us.
▶ 1:21:15Gen. Wilsbach: By the way --
▶ 1:21:16Sen. Rounds: By the way, the air
▶ 1:21:18Force Is Not -- Sen. King: By the way, the air force is not unique in this. A question about drones. To me it underlines the cumbersome this of our military procurement system. Ai tells me that ukraine is now producing 200 thousand drones a month at an average price of $500. We don't have remotely that capacity here.
▶ 1:21:50Force Is Not -- Sen. King: And I believe we are missing, I think, the major lesson of ukraine, which is the importance of drone warfare. I would hope that this might be, again, a place of renewed -- not renewed -- of new emphasis. Not only defensive, which you have mentioned, but also offensive. I find it astounding what the ukrainians have been able to do.
▶ 1:22:17Force Is Not -- Sen. King: Think of that, 200 thousand drones produced a month average cost $500. We've got to have a major initiative in this area. Do you agree?
▶ 1:22:30Gen. Wilsbach: I do, senator. And we have come to the same lessons learned that you have, that this is a tactic that would be useful for us and creates massive dilemmas for your adversary, because they have to honor those 200,000 a month. They don't know what they are up to.
▶ 1:22:50Gen. Wilsbach: They might have a weapon, there might be a decoy, but they have to honor them, and overwhelming their defenses, and eventually you get one to the targets and achieve objectives. By the way, 3d printing, you can 3d printing one way attract -- attack drones at scale. We should invest in that, I believe.
▶ 1:23:09Sen. King: Thank you. Final point. An interesting change was made in 1986. Prior to that the role, the principal advisor, military adviser to the president was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the other chiefs were subsidiary, if you will.
▶ 1:23:31Sen. King: In 1986 the law was changed in an interesting way, providing that you, the individual chiefs had the opportunity and responsibility to provide their best advice to the president and national security council. It is interesting that the committee report uses this language. This subsection would create a very important mechanism that is designed to encourage diversity.
▶ 1:23:55Sen. King: You can't use that word today, I don't think, but to encourage diversity in the advice provided to senior civilian decision-makers. Although the views of the chairman as the principal military advisor should be undiluted, the other members of the jcs would be free to submit dissenting or supplemental views. I hope you will take that responsibility seriously and provide your independent military advice when requested by civilian leaders.
▶ 1:24:25Gen. Wilsbach: I taken very seriously, senator, and I will absolutely give our best military advice at all times. Even when it might not be asked for. [laughter]
▶ 1:24:36Sen. King: That is exactly what I wanted to hear, but I also -- and I think you said this earlier, you have had a 40-year career. You are coming out of almost retirement to do this job. You don't really need this job. I sincerely hope that you will provide that advice, even though it may not be what the policymaker wants to hear.
▶ 1:24:56Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator, I will.
▶ 1:24:59Sen. King: Thank you Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:25:01Chair Wicker: I now recognize senator ernst.
▶ 1:25:05Sen. Ernst: Good morning, general. It is great to have you here and thank you so much for taking the time to be in front of our committee, and I also want to thank your wife for being here as well. We know you can't achieve great things without having wonderful people supporting you all along the way. So, thank you so much for being here. You know what I'm going to start with. We started with this in my office.
▶ 1:25:31Sen. Ernst: It is no surprise to the committee that I will talk about this either, but I really want to focus on an issue that is important not just taiwan and me, but also to our nation's readiness and homeland defense. That is the mark -- modernization of the air national guard's runway. For years the air force has acknowledged the critical role of the one 85th air refueling ring in sioux city.
▶ 1:25:56Sen. Ernst: The unit flies our strata tankers and enables our joint allied aircraft to project their power globally. They also stand ready to refuel norad aircraft and respond rapidly to homeland defense missions. And their ability to launch and respond quickly is a key part of our layer of deterrence posture here at home.
▶ 1:26:18Sen. Ernst: And yet, in spite of the air force's stated commitment, the runway repair and modernization funding has repeatedly slipped off of their radar. But congress has not forgotten about that commit and we do expect that it will be honored. So, general, if confirmed can you commit to ensuring that the air force fully funds and completes the sioux city runway project on schedule and without further delay?
▶ 1:26:46Gen. Wilsbach: I will do my best, senator. I know that you know this. I was very encouraged to learn that in august of 2025, so just a few weeks ago we got the 100, which is something that we wish we would have done a while ago. We finally got that done, so that was the next step muscle we can move forward now.
▶ 1:27:11Gen. Wilsbach: We have the budget request in for fy 2026, and then we can go from there, but I will do my best. I promise you.
▶ 1:27:20Sen. Ernst: For today I will accept your soft answer. But I will keep pressing on this. I do think it is very important that we honor that commitment to this incredible unit.
▶ 1:27:33Gen. Wilsbach: I look forward to working with you.
▶ 1:27:35Sen. Ernst: Thank you so much, sir. How are you prioritizing infrastructure modernization for guard and reserve installations like the project we have in sioux city?
▶ 1:27:44Gen. Wilsbach: My thoughts on the guard in the reserve in the active-duty is that priority scheme should, especially for infrastructure, should be relatively flat. What I mean by that is, don't privilege anyone of those components.
▶ 1:28:04Gen. Wilsbach: We rely so much on our reserve component, both international guard and the air force reserve, and in many cases the units are actually combined and what should encourage everyone is in those units you go in there and you cannot even tell who the guardsman's or the active-duty or the reservist, because everybody is so professional. Everybody is a warrior and they are getting the mission done.
▶ 1:28:27Gen. Wilsbach: So, I don't believe you should shortchange a guard unit or reservist because they are a guard unit or reservist. We need the facilities to be up to par, because our facilities for the air force our power projection platforms.
▶ 1:28:45Sen. Ernst: And thank you for that. Just a little bit more on that, because we are running short on time. I just want to point out too that your mission is very critical. It doesn't matter whether you are active air guard, air force reserves. It just doesn't matter. When it comes to modernization we need to make sure each one of those components gets a piece of that pie. And that we are paying attention to it.
▶ 1:29:16Sen. Ernst: We were going to jump through my last topic. A clean audit. I could go through a number of examples where we have lacked accountability -- not just air force, but across the spectrum at our department of war. But if you would, please detail how we would get to a clean audit within the department of the air force.
▶ 1:29:39Gen. Wilsbach: We have been tasked by the secretary of war to pass the audit. We are going to pass the audit. The way you get to that -- because it is quite complex, as you know. There are many factors and facets of passing that. But we know what the test questions are. So, we need to start working at it and taking time, it is the additives we talked about in your office. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
▶ 1:30:11Gen. Wilsbach: It is not a mystery how to pass the audit. It is clear had to do it, we just have to take our time, go to the sources, complete the work, and we will be fine, and I started this now is in my last job. With the air combat command. If confirmed I would like to expand that to the entire air force.
▶ 1:30:33Sen. Ernst: Thank you for your service. I look forward to supporting your confirmation.
▶ 1:30:38Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator.
▶ 1:30:40Chair Wicker: Senator kelly.
▶ 1:30:44Sen. Kelly: Congratulations on your nomination. Thank you for your service to our country. I recently visited ukraine. Also recently spoke with several of their expert -- of their f-16 pilots. These aviators are doing a fantastic job. It was obviously a little rough going in the beginning, getting them up to speed on the platform. These guys are flying multiple sorties a day.
▶ 1:31:14Sen. Kelly: Sometimes four or five in a single day. Under constant threat. Continuously being locked up by surface-to-air missile systems and russian aircraft. They still managed to intercept thousands of enemy drones. Cruise missiles. Despite the successes, there remains clear opportunities for us to help them further.
▶ 1:31:45Sen. Kelly: They are struggling with the math on how much this costs. A drone costs may be $50,000, as you know. If they shoot an amram, that could be up to $1 million, maybe more in one cases. A9's are rather expensive as well. Not as expensive, but this is becoming a math problem and we have to get the cost down for them to intercept.
▶ 1:32:14Sen. Kelly: These cruise missiles and drones. He also have problems with throughput of f-16 pilots. They only get so many slots here. At tucson international at the 162nd. I would like to see that increased if we could find a way to do that. I know we have our own training requirements for our own f-16 pilots. We have contracts with other countries. For fms programs we have.
▶ 1:32:41Sen. Kelly: So, general, will you commit to working with me to identify some ways to try to expand and accelerate f-16 pilot training opportunities for ukraine?
▶ 1:32:51Gen. Wilsbach: Yeah, senator, I will.
▶ 1:32:53Sen. Kelly: Second, I talked about the air to air munitions. They have been shooting rockets. Lan understanding from my staff is I think we have sent the last zuni's we have had, pretty cheap option to take out a missile or drone. Still rather expensive. That has worked. I think we have a lot of a nine m's.
▶ 1:33:24Sen. Kelly: In inventory we don't use anymore. That could be another option to try to give them more capability without risking having, we don't want to be shooting a9x's and am ram's. Could you identify some further munition options to help them in this fight?
▶ 1:33:49Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator, I would love to.
▶ 1:33:51Sen. Kelly: The other thing that we need -- and I don't know if we have given this consideration here, is more help with the airborne ew system. Something like the 167 pod. I think we are able to hang those in f-16s. I flew something like that way back in 1991. And I think that could go a long way to making a difference on the battlefield.
▶ 1:34:22Sen. Kelly: So, that is the third thing, would you be willing to work with us to try to find some airborne twc system that can help assist the ukrainians?
▶ 1:34:28Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:34:31Sen. Kelly: Thank you. Real quick, the nds in 2018 identified china as the top national defense concern. National can stash national security concern for us. Less than a decade later it does seem that we are pivoting to the western hemisphere.
▶ 1:34:57Sen. Kelly: And as you know, the mbs does not only influence current defense posture, and also informs future spending. And in my view our biggest concern should still be the western pacific, the threat from the people's republic of china. And these are two totally different problem sets. Just as an example.
▶ 1:35:22Sen. Kelly: To penetrate the a280 bubble, I think the mgad is one of the platforms we need and I'm glad to see that moving for. If we do this pivot to the western pacific this then becomes a big question. If confirmed, will you work with my office and this committee to ensure that the air force is resourced for any potential future fight?
▶ 1:35:52Sen. Kelly: Especially against our most significant adversaries?
▶ 1:35:55Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:35:57Sen. Kelly: Thank you.
▶ 1:35:59Chair Wicker: I recognize senator scott.
▶ 1:36:02Sen. Scott: Thank you, chairman. First of all, congratulations on your nomination. You are going to do a great job. C we talked about homestead air force base. Unbelievable location, right? You see the problems we're having in the gulf of -- america, now -- and the adversaries that have come into central and south america.
▶ 1:36:29Sen. Scott: Can you talk about the importance of homestead, the location, and talk about how we can make sure we have a flying mission there so we have something to ensure deterrence?
▶ 1:36:42Gen. Wilsbach: The mako's are stationed there. The f-16 squadron. A great squadron. It is a great location. Especially for homeland defense. We can set up an alert there. Other agencies use that airfield as well. Which is helpful. And the air force reserve is in the running, as we look at strategic basing and fighter flow into the future.
▶ 1:37:13Gen. Wilsbach: That bases in consideration for a future base, and so we are still going through the competition there, but they are in the running for that.
▶ 1:37:19Sen. Scott: If there is anything you think I need to be doing to make sure they are not just in the running, but they win, let me know.
▶ 1:37:26Gen. Wilsbach: I will.
▶ 1:37:28Sen. Scott: Second, can we talk about china? China has clearly decided to be our adversary? You foolishly have become dependent on china for a lot of things, whether it is computers, teepees, drugs, all sorts of things. I just had a hearing yesterday. The special committee on aging, 80% of our generic drugs come from china and india. 80% of the ingredients come from china.
▶ 1:37:56Sen. Scott: If they do what they're doing with rare earth minerals, we have weeks, maybe just a few months of drugs in our country, and we will be in trouble. Our military is very dependent on chinese drugs, which makes no sense to me. We are still buying computers. We are still buying all sorts of systems from china. Tv sets, all sorts of things. What can you do in this role to make sure that stops?
▶ 1:38:22Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator. I appreciate you asking that question. Some of what you just described is outside the lane of a potential future service chief. But what I will tell you is, I don't think the air force should be buying equipment from china.
▶ 1:38:40Gen. Wilsbach: It is very easy to attach a covert or clandestine tracking device/intelligence device, and then they have got their built in intelligence equipment. It is also very easy if they are inside the supply chain to manufacture faulty equipment so when we install it it does not work, etc. There is many things they could be doing, and just to avoid any of those threats I would say by
▶ 1:39:11American Is Sen. Scott: A better choice. What about drugs? Do you think our military ought to be dependent on china for drugs?
▶ 1:39:17Gen. Wilsbach: I would like to steer away from that one. That is outside of my area of expertise.
▶ 1:39:22Sen. Scott: Thank you.
▶ 1:39:23Chair Wicker: Senator slotkin, you are recognized.
▶ 1:39:28Sen. Slotkin: Welcome, general, and welcome to your family. If you are getting down to my end of the dais, you are almost done. It is almost over. Thank you for coming and meeting in my office. We talked about their the great excitement we had in michigan, when the president of the united states announced on april 29 that the air force base in mccomb county was going to be getting a replacement fighter mission, a bunch of f-15s to replace our retiring a-10's.
▶ 1:40:02Sen. Slotkin: The president came to michigan, made this announcement to great fanfare. We are excited about it. This is something our federal and state officials have been working on for a long time. About a decade. It was the culmination of a lot of that. But we are hearing that the bureaucratic's at the pentagon are looking to push out the arrival of those f-15s, delay the arrivals such that we would have a gap.
▶ 1:40:28Sen. Slotkin: We would retire our a-10's, all of our pirate -- pilots would depart, and then something like years later we would get this fighter mission and lose all of that good training and manpower we have. The official documents we saw where that these fighters were going to be arriving in fy 28. This makes sense to us, because I'm assuming president trump wants to be in office when those fighter jets arrive and that is the timeline we are looking for.
▶ 1:41:00Sen. Slotkin: If confirmed, can you tell me what you will do to ensure that we live up to the president, commander-in-chief's timeline of getting those fighter jets into michigan?
▶ 1:41:09Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, thank you, senator. First of all, I am super excited for not only getting the f-15 squadron, but also a kc 46 squadron. The infrastructure improvements that come along with those platforms, I think, are going to make selfridge air force base international guard base the best base in the country.
▶ 1:41:32Sen. Slotkin: From your lips to god's ears, we are thrilled.
▶ 1:41:35Gen. Wilsbach: We will have the most modern aircraft and facilities that go along, so we are excited. You have my commitment to work with you. We, as you know, as we phase out the a-10 and move to the f-16 we have to train the cruise and all of the maintainers, as well as the pilots. So, they cannot step out of an a-10 one day and into an f-15 the next.
▶ 1:42:02Gen. Wilsbach: Usually there is a year and a half, six months to a year and a half of training for those crews, so we will have to work that timing. But you are right, fy 2028 is when the f-15 should arrive.
▶ 1:42:14Sen. Slotkin: We look for to working with you on that and holding to that. On the refuelers, we were happy day former secretary of the air force announced 12 refuelers. We are now hearing whispers again from the bureaucratic set the pentagon that it may not be 12. That it could be a lesser number. We looked around, did our homework in places like new hampshire and new jersey.
▶ 1:42:41Sen. Slotkin: The package is 12, so do I have your commitment that we will keep the 12 as announced by the secretary of the air force?
▶ 1:42:47Gen. Wilsbach: Let me work with you on that. I know it was said before. I also know what the service is saying now and what the state is feeding back to us as well. So, I would like to work with you more on that.
▶ 1:43:02Sen. Slotkin: We would like to receive the commitment that we were presented with, but look forward to pushing and pulling on that with you in the future. And then lastly, on a totally different topic, it is hard to have a hearing like this and not let the news of the country come into the room. We are watching national guard be deployed into american cities. We are watching in some cases active-duty being sent into american cities.
▶ 1:43:34Sen. Slotkin: And over the weekend there was elite conversation about potentially sending in the 82nd airborne. An active duty army unit, not air force. But that unit has apache helicopters. It has blackhawk helicopters. Chinooks. Again, not air force assets, but air assets. I think the idea that air assets would ever be used in american cities really sends a shiver down the spine of most americans.
▶ 1:44:00Sen. Slotkin: So, tell me what you would do if an active-duty air force unit was called into -- in to help participate in quelling protests or going, participating in immigration raids? What would you do, standing there, holding the line? Not knowing that the american people are scared that these assets could be used inside the united states?
▶ 1:44:26Gen. Wilsbach: I've been a commander nine times. I've gotten orders many times to include using force. And every time I get one of those orders what I do is, I checked the law. And I don't take the word of anybody else. I get in the room with my lawyer, chapter and verse, what is the law? If the order is legal, I am permitted to execute that order.
▶ 1:44:53Gen. Wilsbach: In the case of a senior commander you have to make sure everybody in your unit understands what the rules are with respect to using force. Whether that is against an enemy, or in the case of a domestic--- domestically appropriate -- if the order is not legal, you go back to the issuing authority and you discuss that with them and you say, boss, I don't see how you got to the gallery on
▶ 1:45:25Gen. Wilsbach: This one. We can't do that, or you have to give me a different order.
▶ 1:45:28Sen. Slotkin: Fell, we hold you to that. Thank you very much. I yield back.
▶ 1:45:33Chair Wicker: Senator sullivan is recognized.
▶ 1:45:37Sen. Sullivan: General, nice to see you and your wonderful wife. Congratulations. We are really thrilled about your nomination. I look forward to strongly supporting it and, the chairman said, like the ranking member, senator reed, said, you are very qualified, and I'm really excited, so congrats to you and your family. I want to thank your family.
▶ 1:46:04Sen. Sullivan: As you mentioned, your opening statement was great about how families work so hard. It is not surprising to you am going to talk a little bit about alaska. Now, the great news, one of the many attributes you have is you know a lot about alaska. Having been the outcome commander recently. Not to disappoint my colleagues here, I just want you to remind everybody what billy mitchell set about alaska when he was talking about alaska.
▶ 1:46:31Gen. Wilsbach: Billy mitchell said alaska was the -- the most strategic place on earth and whoever controlled alaska control the world.
▶ 1:46:38Gen. Wilsbach: Do you agree with the father of the U.S. air force?
▶ 1:46:42Gen. Wilsbach: I believe it is the most strategic spot on earth.
▶ 1:46:47Sen. Sullivan: So do our adversaries. You and I talked about this yesterday. We have had a lot of russian and chinese incursions into our ee z. Joint russian-chinese incursions. Makes no news down here in the lower 48, by the way. We have had 6 -- seven if you include putin's flight to alaska -- incursions into our airspace since august.
▶ 1:47:14Sen. Sullivan: General, can you talk briefly -- because you know better than anybody -- are those easy missions? Talk a little bit about, they are great air force. They fly at a thousand miles, by the way, I love michigan, but no offense, all of these tankers going to michigan, I think it is strategically makes zero cents when my state has been begging for tankers.
▶ 1:47:37Sen. Sullivan: Let me just ask, before you answer the other question, the kc 135's, I have been begging for four for almost my entire time in the U.S. senate. Michigan is getting a gazillion. No offense, but they are not -- billy mitchell did not call michigan a strategic place at all. Every secretary of the air force and chief of staff of the air force in this hearing has said, senator, we will get you those four kc 135.
▶ 1:48:07Sen. Sullivan: I've been waiting 10 -- I was going to use an adjective, but I will be calm, tenure's for that. Can I get your commitment to fulfill the commitments of, I think four chiefs of staff and secretaries of the air force -- to get at least four kc 135's? We should have at least a squad, because every aircraft in the world is going to search china are going to fly right over alaska. Can I get your commitment on those kc 135's? You know the issue well.
▶ 1:48:38Sen. Sullivan: It is a frustration of mine and I cannot figure it out. 5000 tankers to michigan, zero to alaska. It makes zero cents.
▶ 1:48:45Gen. Wilsbach: I will do my best, senator. I remember this issue when I was stationed in alaska. You and I talked about it back then and I will strive to do my best to get them incidentally. I will just share with you the package to make that happen is currently at the joint staff, so hopefully we're going to make some headway soon.
▶ 1:49:07Sen. Sullivan: Good. I would like an update once you get confirmed. Enormous frustration of mine. But other infrastructure we are talking about, you know, talk about briefly, because I have a few more questions on the intercept missions, right? People think it is a piece of cake. It is not. Our airmen to it so well up in alaska. Once a week almost. Those are real world missions with russian bombers, make fighters, sometimes chinese.
▶ 1:49:37Sen. Sullivan: How tough for those missions and how much infrastructure do we need to carry them out?
▶ 1:49:40Gen. Wilsbach: Pretty tough. Like you said, sometimes the intercept are 1000 miles apart when they begin. And that is not easy to do and the environment is a harsh environment, as you know. He could be completely dark in the wintertime. North of the arctic circle. You know, we have tough weather to deal with. There is not a lot of infrastructure. If you have an emergency to land at that. That is the point you're making, which I totally agree with.
▶ 1:50:10Gen. Wilsbach: You have to have some alternatives.
▶ 1:50:12Sen. Sullivan: The northcom commander and end up a calm commander have testified here that needing more infrastructure to address these russian and chinese incursions in our airspace and waterways. They have talked about barrow. They have talked about -- not talked about -- this committee said aid act is going to be reopened. We have $150 million in the one big, beautiful bill. Can I get your commitment to work with us on those infrastructure needs?
▶ 1:50:42Sen. Sullivan: Which your commanders both testified here say we need to protect our northern flank?
▶ 1:50:46Gen. Wilsbach: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:50:47Sen. Sullivan: Finally, you know the pj's in the 212 rescue squad are outstanding, and they are very busy. Not just real missions in war zones like afghanistan. They conduct real world missions in alaska all the time. One weekend last year they conducted five rescues. Which is kind of unbelievable. Parachute it into a part of alaska where there was a plane crash.
▶ 1:51:19Sen. Sullivan: They have always had a carveout with regard to absoc, with regard to their unit structure, but we are hearing that they are going to lose that carveout. Can I get that commitment to you to continue the existing policy for the rescue squadron to ensure that the units in alaska have the capacity, search capability, personnel stability required to meet the unique demands and training real world missions in alaska and also
▶ 1:51:51Sen. Sullivan: Oversees at the operations of the 212 in our state? You know this very well.
▶ 1:51:55Gen. Wilsbach: I know it very well. I love the guardsmen in alaska that save lives every single week. And you have my commitment I will look into it. I was not checking the carveouts, so let me look into that.
▶ 1:52:07Sen. Sullivan: We will put that in the record. Thank you, general. Congratulations again.
▶ 1:52:12Chair Wicker: Never recognize senator peters to defend the honor of michigan in his rebuttal. Congratulations on your nomination. I did listen with interest to my colleague from alaska saying, we were going to get 5000 kc 46's. Are you ready to announce today that we are going to get more than I had anticipated?
▶ 1:52:37Gen. Wilsbach: I am not prepared for that one. [laughter]
▶ 1:52:40Sen. Peters: It is great to see you here, general. As you know, recapitalizing military aircraft is absolutely vital, first to stay ready for the future of fighting, but as you also know who platforms require modern training for pilots, maintainers, communication, personnel to be able to operate effectively. And investing in the people who operate, fix, and support these systems is just as critical as getting the airframes.
▶ 1:53:10Sen. Peters: And without update of facilities like hangers and airstrips it is very difficult to accomplish that. My question for you, sir, is as the international guard prepares for the arrival of our new kc 46 at a number much lower than the senator from alaska put out, and f-15 e x fighters, could you speak to how the dod is protesting preparing the personnel at selfridge specifically to include pilots,
▶ 1:53:41Sen. Peters: Maintainers, and support folks for this transition? What should we expect?
▶ 1:53:45Sen. Peters: First of all, the infrastructure -- and there is quite a number of dollars. I don't have the exact figure. It is a fair amount of dollars just to either construct or renovate the current infrastructure to accommodate the f-15s and kc 46's. Like I mentioned before, it is going to be exciting for selfridge to have maybe one of the most modern international guard bases in the country.
▶ 1:54:16Sen. Peters: The infrastructure to accommodate that -- to do all of the things you just talked about -- maintenance, simulator training, make sure that the runways and hangers and support maintenance. All of that is in good shape to accommodate what is coming in.
▶ 1:54:30Sen. Peters: And the personnel training?
▶ 1:54:33Gen. Wilsbach: Sure. That is all encompassed. The simulators, as well as maintenance. They will be trained, likely before they get there, but they will continue their training once they get there.
▶ 1:54:43Sen. Peters: Right. Great. General, I have received several classified briefings about the air force's collaborative combat aircraft program. I certainly understand the critical importance of how cca's are going to transform air dominance.
▶ 1:55:04Sen. Peters: As you well know, but for folks listening these are autonomous systems which will work in tandem with manned fighters, including the f-15 e x and I have heard that even the kc 46's car a potential platform as we through how we operate these aircraft. They are basically going to increase lethality and decrease risk to manned platforms. I'm happy to learn that the program remains on time and on budget.
▶ 1:55:32Sen. Peters: I think it serves as a model for successful collaboration between the air force and industry. But as this program continues to develop, I remain hopeful that this cutting edge technology will also be concurrently fielded in the international guard.
▶ 1:55:48Sen. Peters: My question for you, sir, is, given the national guard's evolution from just an important strategic reserve into an operational force, how is the air force planning for concurrent fielding of the cca to include the national guard, and do you plan on fielding the systems with existing fighter squadrons? Including, perhaps, an e exit squadron? Is that something you are thinking about? If you could give me some insight and where the thought process is?
▶ 1:56:17Gen. Wilsbach: We have a lot of learning to do with these platforms. The first flight just occurred on one of the versions. By the end of the year we expect the second version will have its first flight. So, we have a lot to learn. We are thinking that they are not going to be embedded in current fighter squadrons, but rather their own squadrons and will be dispersed.
▶ 1:56:41Gen. Wilsbach: There will be a strategic basing process with these, and to my knowledge, at this point, and I can come back to you with further, but I don't see why the air force reserve, the international guard, and the active duty would not be considered.
▶ 1:56:57Sen. Peters: I would love to have further conversations with you. If confirmed. And I will look forward to having that. Thank you, general.
▶ 1:57:05Chair Wicker: Thank you, senator. Senator tuberville.
▶ 1:57:10Sen. Tuberville: Thank you, general. Good to see. Congratulations. Looking for to working with you and on your important mission in front of you. While we are on these kc 46's, I don't think any of us know how far along we have gone. We have gone a long time trying to build these things. Give us your evaluation. Are they working now? Do we have enough range in the indo pacific? Where do we stand with that?
▶ 1:57:39Sen. Tuberville: We can do all of the sorties we want and build all of these planes. You can't refuel them in the indo pacific, you've got problems.
▶ 1:57:46Gen. Wilsbach: Exactly right. Fuel in the air is the key to our success. My experiment with the kc 46 has been positive, and I know that we have some issues that we have to take care of. Specifically with the boom system that needs to be fixed at this point. But overall, very happy with the platform, and it does provide us with not just air refueling, but it does many other missions.
▶ 1:58:15Gen. Wilsbach: We cannot talk about those in this setting. We can come back in a closed session and talk about some of the other things that gives us, which other tankers did not give us in the past. It is a force multiplier there. I am pleased and I think the progress we are seeing with the fix coming in are promising.
▶ 1:58:35Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. In your career you have had probably a lot of experience, your wife and your family, of base facilities. Recruiting is very important. We are getting a lot of bad information -- well, I can say it is bad information. A lot of information from some of these bases that we are having problems with these housing facilities, and we haven't done enough.
▶ 1:59:06Sen. Tuberville: If we don't take care of our families we are not going to be able to recruit people to be in our military. I don't care what leg of the military. What is your thoughts on that?
▶ 1:59:14Gen. Wilsbach: Cindy and I have traveled all over the pacific and all over the continental united states, visiting airmen and their families. Cindy spent a lot of time with the families and you're right, senator, almost every base she also meets with the first sergeants, who talk a lot about living in the dorms. That is what the air force calls the barracks. There is multiple complaints.
▶ 1:59:40Gen. Wilsbach: Many places there are complaints, and you are exactly right. We owe it to america's sons and daughters to have quality of life in service. Part of that is the place they live, and when they live on base and in a facility, that facility should be safe, it should be clean, and it should be of high quality, just like their service.
▶ 2:00:06Sen. Tuberville: We have to put that a priority. If we don't do that they are not going to get any better. Since I have been here I have heard a lot of rhetoric about, we are going to do this and that. Still we have a lot of power bases that are sending back problems in terms of housing. In schools and things to where we educate our kids. That is very important.
▶ 2:00:25Gen. Wilsbach: Agreed.
▶ 2:00:27Sen. Tuberville: And I hope we continue to make that a priority. I'm on the personnel committee, and I'm also on the air force academy for the visitors. We have had problems there.
▶ 2:00:42Sen. Tuberville: Are you aware of any other the problems, and will you get personally involved in making sure that we train leaders to fight for an adversary instead of this woke nonsense our academies have been in for a few years?
▶ 2:00:57Gen. Wilsbach: I will, senator, and I do want to get personally involved there. So, I share a passion that I know that you do of making warriors that are physically, mentally, and spiritually tough. And I believe you get there by doing hard things together and teaching, coaching, and mentoring after those sessions where maybe you didn't meet the standard, but next time you will.
▶ 2:01:30Gen. Wilsbach: The air force academy is a great place for that to happen, and I just had a conversation with the superintendent yesterday, and the academy today is starting one of those exercises with one of the cadets, and they are going to get tougher in the next couple of days, which I love.
▶ 2:01:44Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. Graduations and good luck to your florida gators, you and your wife. She is wearing her gator colors today. Big win, but they are all big, so thank you to the gators.
▶ 2:01:59Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator.
▶ 2:02:00Chair Wicker: I recognize the spiritually and mentally tough senator budd.
▶ 2:02:07Sen. Budd: It was great to see you in the office this week. Two years ago you hosted me. Very insightful and good to see you here. Deming your opening statement you talked about one of your priorities being modernization. You and I have had lots of conversations about that. I agree with that, but I'm concerned the previous administration signaled a lot of poor decision-making, pitifully -- particularly for the f-15 enterprise under the guise of modernization.
▶ 2:02:37Sen. Budd: As you know, north carolina is home to seymour johnson air force base, which is the epicenter for the f-15 fleet. What do you see as the value in future of the strike eagle community at seymour, both from a training and combat mission perspective?
▶ 2:02:53Gen. Wilsbach: The f-15 is our workforce, especially the f-15 e 's. You see in recent operations the f-15 is often there. And they are doing a great job. The aircraft we have, even though they are older. They still have a lot of life left in them. So, the future for the f-15 is bright. I see seymour johnson at the center of that.
▶ 2:03:23Gen. Wilsbach: It is the training base for the f-15, and I see that remaining. As we move around f-15's when they are replaced by f-35's in other places, you know, we will obviously move or round and keep the newest ones and then the oldest ones will eventually make it to the boneyard and retired those, but the ones that still have life on them are going to, you know, a lot of them are still going to be at seymour johnson for the foreseeable future.
▶ 2:03:50Sen. Budd: If confirmed -- and I believe you will beat -- we are going to continue to have that conversation. I'm going to hold you to that. The increased procurement of the f-15 e x, it has been one of my priorities. I think the platform is critical for modernizing the f-15 fleet and increasing the total final -- fighter aircraft we have in play for future conflict.
▶ 2:04:17Sen. Budd: How do you view the 15 ex procurement across the defense program, general?
▶ 2:04:25Gen. Wilsbach: The 15 ex has the capability to carry weapons that very few other platforms do. These are very long range weapons, perhaps hypersonic weapons that do not fit in the internal weapons bay of our fifth and future sixth generation aircraft. The f-15 e can also do these things.
▶ 2:04:48Gen. Wilsbach: For that reason I think we ought to keep him -- keep a close eye on how many f-15 e x's we want to do air force business, and certainly would love to confirm, continue to work with you and see what the right number is. Right now it is about a 120, give or take. It is about 120, but happy to look at that number in the future and see if we might need more.
▶ 2:05:16Sen. Budd: Thank you. We talked earlier this weekend about pilot retention. There has been a lot of, in this room, discussion about pilot retention. It is obviously a readiness issue. How are you thinking about the problem? And can we solve it with this bonus incentive structure? Are there things you might also do?
▶ 2:05:38Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you to the senate floor approving the bonus, because that means a lot to our aircrew. But that is not the only thing we can do. A few of the things that they complain about or feel like is a challenge are two things that comes up all the time. One is, I came in to be a pilot, and you don't let me fly enough. That goes back to the comments I made earlier of, minimum of three times a week.
▶ 2:06:08Gen. Wilsbach: I mean, if you are not flying and you came in to be a pilot, there is a likely chance that you are going to go somewhere else where you can fly. So, that is one reason why people are getting out, because there are other opportunities to fly, and that is what they want to do. Sorties matter.
▶ 2:06:26Gen. Wilsbach: The second one we hear often is, I am pcs'ing -- pcs-ing too often.
▶ 2:06:40Gen. Wilsbach: If you could stretch that out so that families can stay in one location for a longer period of time, their kids can get settled in school, their spouses can get employment and keep it for longer periods of time, they can build equity in a home, those sorts of things are valuable to our folks. So, reducing the number of permanent change of station moves is the third part of what I think we should be doing to help retain folks.
▶ 2:07:09Sen. Budd: Thank you very much. I look forward to your confirmation and continuing to work together.
▶ 2:07:14Gen. Wilsbach: Thank you, senator.
▶ 2:07:16Chair Wicker: I will recognize myself while I stall for other members that be on their way. First of all, thank you for being here, general, but thank you most of all for answering the phone, and thank you, cindy, for letting cap say yes to the request. I have to say, I can't imagine a person better prepared and equipped then you are for this job, so I'm grateful you said yes and I'm really grateful you got the call.
▶ 2:07:44Chair Wicker: I'm also, having spent time with you and cindy in grand forks, saw firsthand what you describe in cindy, because I'm a cindy, you not just with your words and out of obligation, but in your heart you clearly care about the airmen, and thank you for that. It means the world to all of us and all of them. A couple of things. I wanted to say thank you for your commitment to sentinel program, as asked by senator fischer and others.
▶ 2:08:13Chair Wicker: It is really important to us, of course, having two of the three legs, but, to know that sentinel is -- we are going to see it all the way through. We are not going to stop two thirds of the way. It is really important. I maintain that if you are going to stop anywhere along the way of developing sentinel and putting those new missiles in the ground, you should not start. They are most capable with all of them. I really appreciate your commit to sentinel.
▶ 2:08:44Chair Wicker: With regard to others, I want to talk a little more -- get a little more definition on the isr references and commit. Because you used the word balance as you talked about the potential gap and as we get the space and whether or not space alone will ever fulfill all of the needs, I'm not sure, but clearly you are right, the capabilities space provides mo provide.
▶ 2:09:10Chair Wicker: But in the meantime in grand forks we are trying to keep together nine are q4's with some duct tape and bailing wire, and at a time when they are in higher demand today then they were a number of years ago. They work with the m q nine's flown out of fargo. We are already well below the number that are in demand, and that the threat requires.
▶ 2:09:39Chair Wicker: So, what is your sense of, do you have a plan for how we either maintain or, better yet, acquire some airborne isr while space -- space catches up to the demand?
▶ 2:09:54Gen. Wilsbach: Well, caveat in that I'm not in the seat yet and I would have to say, if confirmed, so, you are exactly right. Ert four, in queue nine, both are really important to us. Especially prior to the conflict. Admittedly, if they go into a high threat environment they could be shut down.
▶ 2:10:19Gen. Wilsbach: But if it is not a high threat environment, we can get great value out of those platforms to do missions that if we didn't have them and you didn't have that capability on space you would have to go without. So, as we go forward into the future we need to balance that. It is, frankly, it is a simple math problem, right?
▶ 2:10:45Gen. Wilsbach: You take the entirety of the collection that you wish to have, and you determine what you are actually collecting. And if you have a big gap, then you can easily make decisions -- resource decisions -- on what you want to keep and what you can afford to get rid of, because you have that capability to collect elsewhere.
▶ 2:11:08Chair Wicker: Thank you. I would add to that, we have a number of airmen who are not sure what they are going to fly in a couple of years or whether there will be a mission for them. In some communities wondering the same thing. I don't need 5000 kc 46's or a gazillion 35's. But as you are moving f-15s around, there might be a place for them in north dakota.
▶ 2:11:38Chair Wicker: But we will talk more about that . Not if, but when you are confirmed I look forward to helping that happen. With that I recognize senator banks.
▶ 2:11:46Sen. Banks: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Earlier this year president trump came to the midwest, to michigan, and highlighted his continued support for the international guard. He said, "the previous administration was willing to surrender air national guard fighting units across the country by retiring aircraft that were not being replaced. Under the trump administration we are correcting that injustice.
▶ 2:12:15Sen. Banks: Do you believe, general, that president trump's directive to the air force was very clear, that we need to invest more in the international guard fighter fleet?
▶ 2:12:23Gen. Wilsbach: I don't want to speak for president trump, so if you wouldn't mind I will tell you what my opinion is on the card. That is that we have active duty, we have international guard, and we have the air force reserves, and all three of those -- two components, one split in half between the reserve component, the air force reserve and international guard, but they are critical to our capability to generate airpower.
▶ 2:12:51Gen. Wilsbach: We do almost nothing without a guardsman or air force reserve in the mix. And that is every single day. And in times of crisis where we can mobilize those forces, even better. So, as we look at the air force writ large, the team consists of active duty, international guard, and air force reserve. Frankly, I try to avoid differentiating.
▶ 2:13:17Sen. Banks: The 122nd fighter wing in fort wayne, indiana is one of those air national guard units were the air force has not provided a plan to modernize or replace its aircraft. We have now transitioned from 18's to f-16s, but our pilots have not been given the enablers they need to make the transition success, such as the simulators and arresting gear.
▶ 2:13:42Sen. Banks: How is the air force implementing president trump's agenda on the international guard fighter fleets like the 122nd?
▶ 2:13:48Gen. Wilsbach: I know you are familiar. They are just getting their latest block 40 jets there. And so, we are going to continue to build that out, and certainly things like simulators and arresting gear for normal operations should be looked at, and if confirmed I will take a peek at that and see if we can get those things.
▶ 2:14:11Sen. Banks: I look forward to working further with you on that when you're confirmed. In the previous administration the air force tried to enforce dei into every aspect of military life. One of the examples of this was leadership signing off on a racial and gender quotas for different applicant pools. They openly stated that their goal was to decrease the number of white males joining the air force as officers from 52% to 43%.
▶ 2:14:43Sen. Banks: Do you support secretary hegseth's push to only select and promote airmen based on the merit -- on their merit and achievement?
▶ 2:14:49Gen. Wilsbach: I do.
▶ 2:14:51Sen. Banks: I appreciate that commitment. I believe secretary hegseth and president trump have done so much to get dei and all of the woke politics out of our military and get our military back focused on what it is supposed to be focused on. I know you are going to be a big part of that. I look forward to supporting your nomination, and working with you for a long time to come. With that, Mr. chairman, I yield back.
▶ 2:15:16Chair Wicker: Thank you. Well, this concludes today's hearing and I want to thank our witness, and a general, thank you for answering the call. For the information of members, questions for the record will be due to the committee within two business days of the conclusion of the hearing, which is right now. We are adjourned.