Letter to Heather Wilson, Secretary of the Air Force - GA Delegation Members Urge Continued Pentagon Support of Critically Important JSTARS Fleet

Letter

Dear Secretary Wilson:

Congratulations on your confirmation as the 24th Secretary of the Air Force. We look forward to working with you in support of the exceptional men and women of the U.S. Air Force who serve our great nation and we pledge our help in providing the resources you need to accomplish your critical national security mission.

Georgia is the proud host of installations from all branches of military service that are crucial to our national and global security. Robins AFB, home of the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) mission, supported by both active duty and National Guardsmen, is one of those installations. We stand united behind Robins AFB and the unique and vital combat capacity the E-8C JSTARS aircraft provide to our warfighters.

We are very concerned, however, that the recapitalization of the existing E-8C aircraft will continue to be unnecessarily delayed despite repeated efforts by Congress to accelerate the acquisition of replacement aircraft to reduce the operational cost of the current legacy fleet and increase operational mission readiness. The current acquisition schedule will cause at least a one-year capability gap, and the Air Force will have fewer than 10 of these high-demand aircraft operationally available for nearly a decade.

Every Combatant Commander says they need more JSTARS assets in their theater. Further delay in acquiring a lower-cost, more operationally-capable business jet platform is unacceptable. We look to your leadership to ensure that the JSTARS Recapitalization contract is awarded in October of this year as planned and that you consider all available options to accelerate the acquisition schedule.

Be assured you have our support in Congress to help you move the JSTARS recapitalization program forward.

Sincerely,

Representative Austin Scott
Representative Sanford Bishop
Representative Buddy Carter
Representative Drew Ferguson
Representative Barry Loudermilk
Representative Tom Graves
Representative David Scott
Representative Doug Collins
Representative Rob Woodall
Representative Jody Hice
Representative Karen Handel
Representative Rick Allen
Representative Hank Johnson