U.S. Air Force aims to replace spy planes as soon as possible

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force aims to
start replacing its aging fleet of E-8 JSTARS spy and battle
management planes "as soon as realistically possible," Air Force
Secretary Deborah James said on Monday.
The Pentagon's chief arms buyer last week approved the next
step in a multibillion-dollar competition to replace the 16
existing Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft,
or JSTARS, which have flown over 100,000 combat hours and are
approaching the end of their service life.
James said in a statement that the Air Force's plans would
allow replacement of one of the highest priority weapons
programs for U.S. military commanders at an affordable cost.
Three teams are competing for the work: Northrop Grumman (N:NOC)
Corp NOC.N , which built the existing planes and is teaming
with General Dynamics Corp (N:GD) GD.N ; Lockheed Martin Corp (N:LMT) LMT.N ,
which is working with Raytheon Co RTN.N and Canada's
Bombardier BBDd.TO ; and Boeing (N:BA) Co BA.N .
Air Force Major Robert Leese said Kendall's approval of the
so-called Milestone A phase of the program would allow the Air
Force to exercise options on contracts previously awarded to the
three teams to conduct system functional reviews, preliminary
design reviews and subsystem prototype demonstrations.
He said the Air Force would also begin efforts to award up
to two contracts for work on new radar systems, and was on track
to release a draft request for proposals for the engineering and
design phase of the program in early 2016.
"JSTARS recapitalization is absolutely necessary for the Air
Force to continue providing a combat-proven capability to the
warfighter," Leese said, noting that the cost of maintaining the
planes was growing as the fleet aged.
Senator Johnny Isakson and 12 other senators urged Defense
Secretary Ashton Carter in a letter dated Friday to protect
funding for the JSTARS program in the fiscal 2017 budget request
that is being finalized this week.
"Due to high demand over the years and increasing
maintenance requirements, it is becoming increasingly difficult
and costly to keep aircraft available to meet operational and
training requirements. This leaves a growing capabilities gap
that is unacceptable," the senators said.