WATCH: In SASC ETC Hearing, Kelly Questions Special Operations Commanders on Maritime Unmanned Systems and Davis-Monthan Power Projection Wing

SOCOM Confirms New Davis Monthan Mission is on track

This week, during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Emerging Threats and Capabilities (ETC) Subcommittee hearing, Arizona Senator and Navy combat veteran Mark Kelly (D-AZ) questioned United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) leaders on the future of maritime unmanned systems and the standup of the new Power Projection Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

Kelly, author of the SHIPS for America Act, pressed Rear Admiral Walter Allman on where Naval Special Warfare is on undersea and unmanned systems: "Where are you today in underwater systems and other unmanned systems, and where do you want to be, let's say 5 or 10 years in the future?"

Allman pointed to the Multi-Mission Dry Combat Submersible as the command's most significant near-term investment, saying it will give SOF access to "nearly anywhere on the planet we need to go in the undersea."

Kelly also got an update from Lieutenant General Michael Conley on the Power Projection Wing coming to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Lieutenant General Conley confirmed the wing is on track, with the first aircraft set to arrive this fall and the wing commander taking command next summer.

Sen. Kelly questions Admiral Allman and General Conley during a SASC ETC hearing.

Click here to download a video of Kelly's remarks. See the transcript below:

Senator Kelly:

Well, it sounds like you were probably talking about where my question was going to be, Admiral, about maritime unmanned systems, other advanced platforms that you need. I will just say, I've been pushing my SHIPS for America Act to try to rebuild the maritime industrial base here domestically so we can improve shipbuilding. But that also extends to the to the stuff you need, those kinds of capabilities, that that workforce. Could you talk a little bit about, just so I know, and you may have already said this today, where are you today in underwater systems and other unmanned systems, and where do you want to be, let's say 5 or 10 years in the future?

Rear Admiral Walter H. Allman III:

Thank you Senator. We have been making progress in our undersea assets, but we have a significant build coming up in our Multi-Mission Dry Combat Submersible, which will partner with the Virginia class and give us access to nearly anywhere on the planet we need to go in the undersea. So, that investment is just beginning. So, that capability will return to a capability we had in the early 2000s that is just so strategically important that the investment in both the platforms and the MILCON that will be necessary to launch and recovery, the launch and recovery of the platform is probably our most significant needs.

Kelly:

Have you given any thought to, this might sound crazy, I've given a little thought as the cost to launch to get into orbit continues to go down, it might go down significantly enough at some point. But if you guys ever wanted to get somewhere really, really fast, if we were willing to commit, I'm talking maybe 10, 15, 20 years from now, commit to keeping something somewhere on a pad and ready to go. You could get somewhere in 20 minutes. You guys ever, ever, ever, ever talk about, like, these crazy ideas?

Allman:

I'll defer to my AFSOC colleague here.

Lieutenant General Michael E. Conley:

Senator, thanks for the questions. Good seeing you again. We're looking at it. We look at it from a rocket cargo type of lens. How could we get it across the world in minutes and not days, but not deep thought into it yet. We've dabbled in some con-opt development and trying to figure out what it might look in order to service the other soft partners, but we're probably a ways away from investing AFSOC money in it. But I agree with you, it gets cheaper every day.

Kelly:

As it gets cheaper. It's something we could even maybe get people on the other side of the planet very quickly. Basically 30, 40 minutes anywhere.

Kelly:

I was thinking Navy. It's a ship. It's a space ship, Tim! I know, you would sign up to do this. And then, General, just on the conversation we had a couple of weeks ago at the power projection wing, I was talking to Admiral Anderson just today, AFRICOMM Commander, about the OA-1K and the ability to, with that platform, to be able to put some effects on a target and it seems like it's well suited, obviously, for Special Ops. That's why it's in the power projecting wing here. Could you give me a little update on where we are with standing up the wing at Davis-Monthan?

Conley:

Yes, I certainly can. So, we just took possession of our 18th OA-1K, and I think from an operational perspective, you're right. We have yet to put it into combat. We're still building out the initial cadre and training crews. I think it will provide combatant commanders Swiss Army knife capability, where one day it could do exquisite SIG and collect Intel ISR things and also be armed with up to 6,000 pounds of payload, whether that's Hellfires, rockets, maybe some small cruise missiles that we're working on.So, I think, again, it provides the ground force commander lots of options at a very affordable price point. Flight hours that are roughly 50% less cost per hour than an MQ-9 nine, even. As far as Davis-Monthan, we have already planted some seed corn out there with our personnel to build it out next summer. Our wing commander will take command of the wing out at Davis-Monthan. We will get our first OA-1K delivered out there later this fall. Our first 2operational 0A-1K squadrons will be at Davis-Monthan. And then we're working through the environmental analysis with the recommendation to move a CV-22 Squadron out there.

Kelly:

Great. I was in Jordan a couple years ago and they had some sitting on the ramp, some of the Air Tractors, and they had a lot of stuff hanging off of it. Thank you.