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Lightweight Fighter Aircraft Program / C '3 3 'GOVERNMENT Senate Hearing^ Storage Before the Committee on Appro priation s Y)t )C U M r HTS -------- -------------- L ig h tw e ig h t F ig h te r A ir c ra ft P ro g ra m . T 0 7 6 MAY 1 ? 1975 t h ^ ta« un^ X s,ty KANSA o Lightweight Fighter Aircraft Program m in H < —'— J- □ " 1 □ IT Fis ca l Y ear 1976 H H < 94“ CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION LIGHTWEIGHT FIGH TER AIRC RA FT PROGRAM H E A R IN G BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE NIN ETY-F OURTH CONGRESS F IR ST SE SS IO N Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 52-600 0 WASHINGTON : 1975 SU BC OM MITTE E OF THE CO MMIT TE E ON APP ROPR IA TIO NS JO HN L. McC LE LL AN , A rk an sa s, C hair m an JO HN C. ST EN NIS , Mississ ippi MILTO N R. YOUNG, Nor th Dak ot a JO HN O. PA ST OR E, Rhode Island ROMAN L. HR US KA , Neb ra sk a WA RREN G. MAGNUSON, W as hing ton CL IF FO RD I’. CA SE, New Je rs ey MIK E MANS FIEL D, M on tana HIRA M L. FON G, Haw aii GALE W. Mc GE E, Wyomi ng TE D ST EV EN S, Alaska WILL IAM I’ROX MIRE, Wisco nsin RICH AR D S. SC HW EI KE R, Pen ns yl va nia JO SE PH M. MONTOYA, New Mexico DA NI EL K. INOU YE , Haw ai i Ex O fficio M embers F rom tii e C om mittee on A rmed S ervices ST UA RT SYMINGTON, Misso uri STROM TH URMO ND, So uth Car ol in a HE NR Y M. JACK SO N, W as hing ton J ames R. C alloway Chief Counsel anil Staff Director Guy G. M cCon ne ll , R ich ard D. L iebe rm an , D ouglas A. A ll en , J am es A. F ellen bau m and J oel E. B onner (M in or ity ) Staff Assistants, Department of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee C O NTENTS LIGHTWEIGHT FIGHTER AIRCRAFT PROGRAM DE PA RT MEN T OF DEFENSE Statement of Hon. Malcolm R. Currie, Director of Defense Research and Page Engineering______________________________________________ 1 DE PA RT MEN T OF TH E NAVY Statem ent of Vice Admiral W. D. Houser, USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare)_______________________________________ 35 Clement, W. C., Jr., Deputy Secretary of Defense, fetter from _________ 44 Mahon, Hon. George H., U.S. Representative from Texas, letter from __ 45 McClellan, Hon. John L., U.S. Senator from Arkansas, letter from............ 45 DE PA RT MEN T OF TH E AIR FOR CE Statem ent of Lt. Gen. William J. Evans, Dep uty Chief of Staff, Research and Development_____________________________________________ 67 Prepared Sta tem ent__________________________________________ 68 Statem ent of Lt. Gen. James Stewart, Commander, Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio__________________ 75 McClellan, Hon. John L., U.S. Senator from Arkansas, questions sub­ mitted by ....... ................................................ ............. ........... ....................... 97 Young, Hon. Milton R., U.S. Senator from North Dakota, questions submitted by .................................................................................................. 104 (in) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIA TIO NS FOR FISCAL YEA R 1976 TU ESD AY, M AY 6, 1975 U. S. S enate , Subcommittee of the C ommittee on A ppropriations, Wa shing ton , D.C. The subcomm ittee met. at 1 0:15 a.m. in room 1223, Everett M cKinley Dirksen Office Build ing , Hon. Jo hn L. McClellan (ch air man) presiding. Present: Senator s McClellan, Young, Hruska and Stevens. L IG H T W E IG H T F IG H T E R A IR C RA FT PR OG RA M Department of D efense STA TEM EN T OF HO N. MA LC OL M r . C U R R IE , DIR ECTOR OF D EFEN SE R ESEA R C H AND E N G IN E E R IN G OVERVIEW STATEM ENT Ch air ma n M cClellan. Th e subcommittee will come to o rder, please. Today we will hear testimony and expla natio n of cu rren t light­ weight fighte r ai rc raft pro gra ms within the De partm ent of Defense. I he first witness will be D r. Malcolm R. Cu rrie, Di rec tor of Defense Research and En gineering , who will be follo wed by Lt. Gen. Willi am J. Evans, D eputy Chie f of Staff for Research and Development f or the Air F orce; and Vice Adm. W. I). House r, De puty Ch ief of N aval Op­ era tions for A ir W arfare. Very well; you m ay proceed, Dr. Cu rrie. Do you have a prepa red statem ent ? Dr. ( ' urrie. Yes, si r; a brie f overview statement. STAT US OF LIGH TW EIGH T FIG HT ER PROGRAMS Mr. Ch air man and members of t he c ommittee: It is my privil ege to ap pe ar here with my colleagues from the Air Force and the Navy to sum marize for the committee the sta tus of the proposed lig htwe igh t fighte r p rogra ms of the Defense De partm ent. These program s are cen tral to ou r ability to ma int ain and enhance our tactical force str uc ture and fighting pow er under the severe fiscal constra int s which exist now and will continu e into the futur e. To satisfy the requirem ents f or rep lacement of o ur aging F -4 fighte r forces which begins in the early 1980’s—and fo r which developments (1) 2 must be initiated now—we felt th at we must explore concepts which tu rn away from increas ing ly complex and costly to p-o f-the-lin e fighter ai rc raft as ex emplified hy the Nav y F -14 and Air Force F-15 an d seek less expensive complem ents to these cap abilities. The new lightw eig ht fighte r pro gra ms are the result. Us ing advanced technology originating in the hig hly successful Ai r Force YF -16 and YF- 17 proto typ e com petition, we have achieved designs which combine the attri bu tes of low cost and ex tra ordina ry performance and which—when used with the more costly end of the mix—wfill attain o ur objective o f much greater over-all force effective­ ness f or a given do lla r investment. T wish to stress th at we are placing major emphasis in these program s on the att ainm en t of new levels of relia bility and low costs of owner­ ship. These costs of m aintenance and ope rations, over a 15- to 20-year life cycle, dominate in magnitude initial acquisition costs and it is here th at great savings can be achieved and fighting readiness can be enhanced. AIR FORCE PRO GRAM In Jan ua ry of this year, the A ir Fo rce ann ounced the selection of the General Dyn amics YF -16 as the ir choice fo r a ligh tweig ht ai r combat fighter. Th is followed man y months of flig ht tes t and eva luation of the prototypes. During the subsequent DS AR C process, the final detaile d F- 16 co n­ figu ration was defined and rigoro us relia bility and main tai na bility crite ria were established. The avionics develop men t schedule was un ­ coupled from th at of the aircraft. Tf th e reliability goals fo r the full avionics system are not substan tiated , F-1 6’s with an austere avion ics package will be produced. A unit fly-away cost of $4.5 m illion was establis hed —fiscal year 1975 dollars, 650 ai rc ra ft at a maximum rate 10 per month with learning to 15 per month. F - l o The F- 16 pr ogram is a minimum risk and minimum overall cost pro­ gr am ; it achieves im po rta nt com monality with the F-15 throug h use of common turbofan Pra tt and Whit ney engine havin g excellent fuel consumption chara cte ristics; it will br ing in a rem arkable new level of capability at acquisition and ownership costs th at will perm it us to arr est th e decline in nu mbers of tactical a irc raft. Its foreign sales potential is su bstan tial, as is indicated by the serious thou gh t curre ntly being given by the consortium of four Eu ropean nation s who consider the F- 16 to be a lea din g candidate as a rep lace­ ment for th ei r agin g F -104 ’s. NAVY PROGRA M Now I would like to address the Navy ai r combat fighte r pro gra m and events leadin g to the selection o f the McDonnell D ou glas/N orthrop design. An objective of both the Defense De partm ent and the Congress was to exp lore means of achieving the max imum practic al level o f com­ mo nality lx'tween the Navy and Air For ce lightw eig ht fighters.
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