The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee urged Air Force leaders June 6 to be more transparent about the secretive B-21 Raider bomber program, citing the need for lawmakers and the public to stay abreast of the major acquisition effort.
The “B-21 will provide a much-needed modernization of our aging bomber force,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said at an Air Force “posture” hearing. “But this committee and the American people deserve to know more about how the Air Force intends to use the $2 billion in research and development funding for this program, as requested for the coming fiscal year.” 
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson testified that the service is trying to balance the public’s right to know with the need to avoid tipping off potential adversaries about the aircraft’s specific capabilities. “I totally agree with you,” McCain replied, “but I’ve never seen anything like this one.”
The B-21 program, whose prime contractor is Northrop Grumman [NOC], recently completed its preliminary design review. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 bombers and begin fielding them in the mid-2020s. The stealthy aircraft is intended to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons.
Also at the hearing, Wilson testified that officials were meeting at the Pentagon to review possible delays in the KC-46A Pegasus tanker program. While prime contractor Boeing [BA] insists it still plans to have the first tanker ready to deliver by year’s end, the Government Accountability Office has warned that the program could be delayed because testing and Federal Aviation Administration certification are taking longer than expected.
“We did an independent assessment on timing and we may see a couple of months’ slip [according to] what I’m hearing informally,” Wilson said.
Wilson also testified that the Air Force is on track to issue the final request for proposals (RFP) for the UH-1N Huey helicopter replacement program in July. The Air Force released its second draft RFP in April. Potential bidders include a Boeing-Leonardo team, Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Sikorsky unit and Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT].
A day after Wilson warned in a speech that Air Force efforts to modernize and improve readiness will be derailed if Congress does not repeal across-the-board budget cuts that are set to return in fiscal year 2018 (Defense Daily, June 5), she quantified the potential damage, saying the Air Force would sustain a $15 billion reduction.
“We are too small for what the nation expects of us now, and sequester would further hollow this force,” she told the Senate committee.
According to McCain, the Air Force will be short almost 500 fighter jets in FY 2018 and almost 1,000 by FY 2032. To put a “dent” in that shortfall, the Air Force needs to buy 80 new fighters a year, significantly more than the 46 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs the Air Force is requesting for FY 2018 or the annual procurement rate of 60 F-35As that the service wants to reach as soon as possible, the senator said.