USAF's Roper says service should better sell modernisation strategy to Congress

摘要

The US Air Force (USAF) needs to better explain to lawmakers how the service will benefit from technologies such as digital engineering to accomplish its modernisation goals, said Will Roper, the outgoing assistant secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (AT&L), on 14 January. According Roper, the USAF should stop arguing that it simply needs to retire older platforms without better justifying its requests. The USAF wants to divest legacy aircraft such as McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender aerial refuellers and Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) platforms. However, Congress, in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, enacted broad force structure minimums that prevent the USAF from retiring these and other legacy aircraft over the next few years.