Force Structure Meeting

The National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force plans to hold a meeting next week, according to a notice published in this morning's Federal Register:

Purpose of Meeting: The members of the Commission will hear testimony from individual witnesses and then will discuss the information presented at the hearings.

Agenda: Consultants, representatives from defense think tanks, and leadership from the National Governors Association are invited to speak at the public hearing and are asked to address matters pertaining to the U.S. Air Force, the Air National Guard, and the U.S. Air Force Reserve such as their study results and recommendations. These witnesses are also asked to address the evaluation factors under consideration by the Commission for a U.S. Air Force structure that -- (a) Meets current and anticipated requirements of the combatant commands; (b) achieves an appropriate balance between the regular and reserve components of the Air Force, taking advantage of the unique strengths and capabilities of each; (c) ensures that the regular and reserve components of the Air Force have the capacity needed to support current and anticipated homeland defense and disaster assistance missions in the United States; (d) provides for sufficient numbers of regular members of the Air Force to provide a base of trained personnel from which the personnel of the reserve components of the Air Force could be recruited; (e) maintains a peacetime rotation force to support operational tempo goals of 1:2 for regular members of the Air Forces and 1:5 for members of the reserve components of the Air Force; and (f) maximizes and appropriately balances affordability, efficiency, effectiveness, capability, and readiness. Individual Commissioners will also report their activities, information collection, and analyses to the full Commission.

The meeting will take place on June 26 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., according to the notice.

The expected changes to the service's force structure has lawmakers understandably worried. Inside the Air Force reported last week that a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee had drawn up an amendment to the panel's fiscal year 2014 defense authorization bill that would freeze some force structure changes proposed by the Air Force and already approved by Congress until next summer:

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee, described the amendment during the subcommittee's brief mark-up session this morning. The amendment would prevent the "transfer, conveyance or divestment" of any Air Force intra-theater airlift assets until 120 days after the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force submits its report to Congress.

That report is due next February, meaning that Wicker's proposal would stop the transfer or other adjustment of the service's C-130 and C-27 aircraft fleets until around June 2014.

Wicker voiced his displeasure with the way Congress approved the Air Force's total force plan (TFP), a revision to the service's original FY-13 budget request that recommended retiring hundreds of aircraft, during a House-Senate conference last year over the FY-13 Defense Authorization Act. The TFP reduced the number of aircraft recommended for retirement and attempted to bring new missions to units losing aircraft but still centered on doing away with or re-basing many legacy intra-theater aircraft.

"I remain deeply concerned about the fiscal year 2013 defense authorization conference decision made behind closed doors and without consultation of all conferees that enabled the Air Force to begin implementation of its total force plan," he said. "I'm convinced that some elements of the TFP were shortsighted and may adversely impact our intra-theater airlift capability."