AIR FORCE RESERVE STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL ROGER P. SCHEER, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, CHIEF OF AIR FORCE RESERVE UPGRADE OF AIRCRAFT Senator JOHNSTON, General Scheer. General SCHEER. I too would like to express my thanks for the honor of being here and make it unanimous in our deep gratitude for Chairman Stennis and what he has done for us over the past years. As a direct result of past actions by the Chairman and this committee, we are now flying modern aircraft. In 1989 we will convert two more F-4 units to F-16's, and continue to build the C-5's and C-141's. We are now included in virtually all contingency planning with our active duty counterparts. And more importantly, our readiness far exceeds the standards that we enjoyed only a few years ago. As an example, all of our flying units today are combat ready. For non-flying units, combat readiness has increased from 75 to 92 percent just in the last year. Medical manning is up to 93 percent. And I think, as John just pointed out, our readiness and responsiveness are evident in the Honduran airlift last week, where five of our C-141's from Andrews responded within hours. DEFENSE SYSTEMS SHORTAGES We have some equipment shortages, particularly in the defensive systems, ECM systems for our tactical airlift and fighters. That is the main area we are working on along with upgrading our almost 30-year-old helicopter combat rescue fleet. For training, ever more realistic simulators, aircraft simulators, are more exotic than ever. We are using computer-based training for our ground training. And last year, in response to this training, we had over 16,000 of our people deploy to overseas locations, over 7,000 of those to Europe alone. So again, while we all share in the fiscally hard times, I think our readiness is at a level that perhaps a few years ago we would not have believed possible. And with your continued support, we will be able to see significant increases in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared statement of General Scheer follows:] (614) PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. ROGER P. SCHEER, USAF CHIEF OF AIR FORCE RESERVE MAJOR GENERAL ROGER P. SCHEER Major General Roger P. Scheer is chief of Air Force Reserve, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., and commander, Headquarters Air Force Reserve, a separate operating agency located at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. As chief of Air Force Reserve, General Scheer serves as the principal adviser on Reserve matters to the Air Force chief of staff. As commander of Headquarters Air Force Reserve, he has full responsibility for the supervision of all U.S. Air Force Reserve units around the world. General Scheer was born Nov. 13, 1934, in Akron, Colo., and graduated from high school in Hinsdale, Ill., in 1952. He received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1957 and a master's degree in business adminstration from Central State University, Edmond, Okla., in 1977. After receiving his commission as a second lieutenant through the University of Colorado's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program, General Scheer earned his pilot wings in 1958 at Webb Air Force Base, Texas. He then completed training at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and was assigned to Ramstein Air Base, West Germany, flying F-86D's with the 514th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. In 1961 the general transferred to Spangdahlem Air Base, West Germany, where he served as standardization and evaluation officer with the 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying F-100s and F-1058. He returned to the United States in 1963 and was assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., as standardization and evaluation officer, flying F-105s. During the last six months of this tour of duty, he was on temporary duty at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, as a member of a rotational squadron. General Scheer then was assigned to the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, in August 1965. Almost immediately, he was sent on temporary duty to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, where in 1965 and 1967 he flew 168 combat missions. In July 1969 he transferred to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, where he served as operations officer and chief of standardization and evaluation and again flew F-105s. In March 1970 he separated from active duty and joined Loewi and Co. in Chicago as a stockbroker. Eighteen months later, he went to work in the A-10 Marketing Division of Fairchild-Republic at Farmingdale, N.Y. After the Air Force announced that the former C-124 Reserve unit at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., would be the first Air Force Reserve unit to convert to a tactical fighter mission and be assigned F-105s, General Scheer applied for a full-time air reserve technician position with that unit. He subsequently joined the 507th Tactical Fighter Group at Tinker in early 1972, serving as operations and training officer for the 465th Tactical Fighter Squadron until January 1973 when he was named group commander. In May 1978 he became commander of the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing, Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. During his command, the wing and its subordinate units were equipped with F-4D's. The general served as deputy to the chief of Air Force Reserve at Air Force headquarters from April 1983 until May 1985, when he became commander of 19th Air Force, Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas. He assumed his present position in November 1986. MR CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee to present the amended U.S. Air Force Reserve program for Fiscal Year (FY) 1989 and to respond to any questions you may have. Air Force Reserve units remain combat ready and well-trained, and are capable of being mobilized in 24 hours and deployed within 72 hours. The strength of our effectiveness as a partner in the Total Force continues to be productive interface with the Active Force, quality personnel, substantive missions, and modern equipment. MODERNIZATION Although budget deficit considerations have slowed our rate of growth, the Air Force Reserve will continue to modernize our airlift and fighter forces in FY 1988 and 1989. Systems modernization is essential if we are to interface closely with our Active and Guard counterparts in maintaining full combat readiness and capability. Consequently, we are continuing to upgrade our tactical fighter force during FY 1988 with our second F-16 unit reaching its full complement of 24 production line F-16C/Ds. We appreciate your support in providing production line models of the F-16 for Luke AFB, Arizona. However, budget constraints are slowing down the previously announced program for modernization of the Air Force Reserve fighter force. Three F-4 units previously announced for modernization to the F-16A/B in FY 1988 and FY 1989 will now each convert approximately one year later. We hope, in time and with your support, to install various modifications which would ensure that these aircraft will remain viable throughout their lifetime. The conversion of the remaining Reserve F-4 units to the more cost effective F-16 in the early 1990s must survive the current trend of reductions in defense spending. Any further cutbacks in planned F-16 and F-15 procurement levels will force our aging F-4D/Es to longer service, also seriously affecting our war fighting capability. The extraordinary results of our fighter modernization in terms of combat capability, speaks for itself. For the second consecutive GUNSMOKE (a biennial world-wide fighter gunnery competition), our Reservists from the 419th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah produced first place trophies. In 1985 they won the top unit trophy shortly after their conversion to F-16A/B aircraft. This year Major Danny Hamilton of the 419th took Top Gun honors as the best fighter pilot in this major competition. Along with the first, second, and fifth places in the Top Gun competition, the 419th finished second among 18 fighter wings in the race for overall honors. Due to the Congressional add of eight C-130H aircraft in the FY 1988 budget, the Air Force Reserve will retire its last C-130A tactical airlifter, at General Billy Mitchell Field, Wisconsin in FY 1989 -- and not a moment too soon. Thereafter. the only C-130 As remaining in the Air Force Reserve will be the dated AC-130A gunships at Duke Field, Florida. The Special Operations Group at Duke Field is manned with 1,000 personnel including 22 well trained and experienced, combat-ready crews. These highly motivated people received the only outstanding' awarded last year by the Military Airlift Command (MAC) Inspector General to a special operations force unit (active or Reserve). The Air Force procurement of the new AC-130U will release active duty upgraded H-model gunships to replace our A-models. Therefore, I urge your support for the AC-130Us in the current Air Force procurement budget. The addition of eight new C-130H aircraft for our Milwaukee unit greatly enhances the combat capability of our airlift fleet while lowering overall operations cost. We have validated your confidence in the ability of our airlift units by using production line C-130H aircraft to win the annual AIRLIFT RODEO a world-wide airlift competition. Our Dobbins AFB, Georgia, unit finished first overall in 1985 and in 1987 the Maxwell AFB, Alabama, unit had the highest score for a C-130 in the best airlift wing category. While the Air Force Reserve has been a long time partner in the Military Airlift Command's strategic airlift associate program (Reservists flying and supporting active duty aircraft daily), we now have achieved an increased strategic airlift profile at our unit equipped C-141 and C-5 wings. The 459th Military Airlift Wing (MAW) at Andrews AFB, Maryland, completed its conversion to 8 C-141B aircraft last year; the 433rd MAW at Kelly AFB, Texas, will complete its conversion to 15 C-5s in FY 1989; and the 439th MAW at Westover AFB, Massachusetts, which received the first of 14 C-5As last Fall, will receive the remaining C-5s in FY 1989. These strategic airlift unit conversions allow us to operate and maintain these valuable airlift aircraft economically at a low peacetime tempo while maintaining a high wartime surge capability. Our MAC Associate program continues to be another cost effective means to conduct peacetime airlift while training to meet heavy wartime surge requirements. Our mission ready status was clearly indicated in last year's AIRLIFT RODEO, as the Reserve Associate wing at Norton AFB, California, was named the best United States airlift wing. The U.S. Air Force mobility forces upgrade is dependent on the timely procurement of the C-17 aircraft. For the first time in our history, production line airlift aircraft are programmed for unit-equipped Guard and Reserve squadrons. The C-17 is also planned for existing C-141 Associate units, releasing C-141s to modernize Guard and Reserve C-130 units. We believe in the cost and mission effectiveness of the C-17 and strongly support its timely procurement. In the area of combat rescue, the Air Force Reserve currently is operating 12 H-3 and 5 HH-1 helicopters. These aircraft are getting old and rapidly are becoming unsupportable. Therefore, it is important that the MH-60G procurement remain on track. If reduced funding slowed MH-60G production, it could create a situation where we would have to retire the old HH-3s before replacement aircraft could be made available. A temporary break in the mission would close these Reserve units and we would lose their experienced crews and support personnel. The high quality of these search and rescue personnel was demonstrated in FY 1987 when our rescue aircrews, pararescuemen, and support personnel received some of the most impressive awards in the 1987 annual International Search and Rescue Competition (SAREX). A Reserve team (the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadrons at Homestead AFB, Florida, and Portland IAP, Oregon) claimed the best overall SAREX Award. We are proud that our crews' high levels of experience and dedication, which coupled with the support of their families and civilian employers, have allowed our Reserve units to reach full mission capability with new equipment in record times. SHORTFALLS Although our flying units are well trained and demonstrate excellent combat capability, we need to improve our ability to penetrate enemy defenses. Using appropriated dollars to buy electronic countermeasures pods solves only a small part of the problem. Active and passive countermeasures are crucial to infiltrate the full spectrum of enemy defenses. Currently, we are working on a program to provide limited capability for our fighters and airlift aircraft. We look forward to your continued support as we develop and program systems in these times of reduced defense spending. Due to the limited time available for aircrew proficiency training, the Reserve Components must make every minute count toward improving operational capability. To accomplish this, there is a critical need for the development and acquisition of state-of-the-art training systems, technologies, and procedures. These include self-paced programmed instruction, part-task trainers, multi-media learning programs, and computer simulation. Last year Congress responded to a portion of this need with an additional appropriation for a C-5 weapon systems trainer at Westover AFB. OPERATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS Air Force Reserve flying units logged more than 220,000 unit equipped and associate flying hours in FY 1987, in our fighter, tanker, tactical airlift, strategic airlift, special operations forces, and rescue aircraft. As Reservists train, they also support requirements that would otherwise have to be satisfied by contract or active force resources. For example, the Air Force Reserve contribution to MAC channel missions represented more than 38,000 passengers, 59,000 tons of cargo, and 263 million ton miles. Our unit equipped airlift mission added more than 53,000 hours, 90,000 passengers, and 19,000 tons of cargo. Reserve associate C-9 medical evacuation crews logged 3,500 hours while transporting more than 9,000 patients. In addition to routine training, members of our Air Force Reserve flying units recorded extraordinary firsts last year: An aircrew from McGuire AFB, New Jersey, airdropped the heaviest Two F-4 crews from Wright-Patterrson AFB, Ohio, were engaged in The US Air Force Reserve also left its mark in November 1987 at In conjunction with proficiency training, our flying units are often requested to provide a variety of humanitarian services: Air Force Reserve rescue units were credited with saving 20 lives in There are several missions unique to the Air Reserve Components, where our units accomplish remarkable feats with a combination of experience and ingenuity. The Air Force Reserve provides 100 percent of the Air Force aerial spray capability. In one recent example of this mission, the Rickenbacker ANGB, Ohio, Reserve unit flew aerial spray missions last summer to suppress a potential disease epidemic in Puerto Rico. The Air Reserve Components also provide 100 percent of the Air Force augmentation to the Forestry Service airborne fire fighting capability. A California C-130 unit (Air Force Reserve) from March AFB loaded a mobile aerial fire fighting system in their aircraft, and teamed with the Air National Guard to contain raging forest fires in Southern and Central California. The Air Force Reserve made major contributions to exercise activities around the world in FY 1987. More than 32,000 Reservists participated in Joint Chiefs |