Thanks for the article Conrad...
via Defense News.
WASHINGTON — If sequester remains in effect, the US Air Force’s combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission is in danger of disappearing, according to multiple defense sources.Read the entire article but we're seeing budgetary madness going on here.
Funds for new CSAR helicopters are not included in the service’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal that includes sequestration spending cuts, the defense sources said. Moreover, funds to extend the lives of about 90 battle-worn Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters is not part of the sequester budget.
Each US military service is developing at least two budgets for 2015, one that includes sequestration spending cuts and another that builds on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which is $52 billion above the federal spending cap.
Funding for the Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program, which would purchase more than 100 helicopters for the CSAR mission, fell below the cutting line as the service struggles to find savings under a sequestered budget.
About two-thirds of the Pave Hawk fleet is flown and crewed by active-duty airmen, while the rest come from the Guard and reserve.
For months, the Air Force has been poised to award the contract to a Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin team — the only publicly announced bidders — but has held back the contract due to the budget uncertainty.
How can an organization as big as the Pentagon not be able to perform an in depth audit but is capable of giving lawmakers two different budgets?
Additionally how can the MV-22 receive full funding---with long lead contracts to boot, and yet this USAF mission critical, low density asset wither away?
Something is foul in Denmark. Is this another one of those ploys to get additional funding while protecting the F-35? Is the Pentagon attempting to blackmail Congress by saying "we must have the F-35" but the helicopter to rescue downed aviators is less important?
My respect for leadership in all the services continues to plummet. Where I once only saw incompetence, I now see the most vile behavior imaginable. The Pentagon needs an enema.
