NPR's Tom Bowman interviewed the U.S. Air Force's new top officer, Gen. Norton Schwartz. Schwartz talked about his plans for the service — from handling its nuclear arsenal to rebuilding its aging fleet. The following is an edited version of the interview.
NPR: Your predecessor, Gen. Mike Moseley complained about sending thousands of airmen to Iraq to drive fuel trucks or guard prisoners. He said that was not a job for Air Force personnel. What's your sense?
SCHWARTZ: The bottom line for me is the nation is at war, and we will do whatever we can to make sure that America succeeds. And that includes using people in nontraditional roles. And I will tell you, I celebrate what our youngsters are doing in areas that are not traditional. But there's a need — the nation's at risk — and this is what we're called to do.
NPR: Moseley was also criticized for not doing enough to send more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq. Defense Secretary Gates said it was like "pulling teeth" to get the Air Force to move on this. Now, can you improve on this mission?
SCHWARTZ: We are. ... Let me give you a couple of metrics just so you have a sense. We just passed the 400,000-hour milestone on unmanned vehicles just the other day. It took us 12 years to get to the 180,000 hours, and it took us an additional eight months to do the remaining 220,000 hours. That gives you a sense of what's going on out there.
My sense is that the Air Force in this area is on a war footing. Over the next five years, over a third of the flying assets we will procure for the Air Force will be unmanned vehicles.
NPR: The Air Force now has 26 continuous combat air patrols with the Predator, meaning that they can fly 24/7 in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The plan is to increase that to 50 by 2012. Can you accelerate that? Or even increase the number?
SCHWARTZ: We will accelerate, for sure. If we need to go above 50 [continual combat missions], we can do that. It will require more resources.
(Schwartz says part of the problem is limits on the industrial base to build more unmanned drones and also creating experienced pilots to fly them. There is a plan to increase the number of pilots by opening a second school at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, with the first graduates expected by next May. Over the next five years, the number of drone pilots, now at 300, will grow to more than 1,100.)
NPR: Now those drone pilots, who sit inside a building at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, have to be actual pilots who are rated to fly aircraft. Will that continue?
SCHWARTZ: I think that is an open question, and there are a number of things that affect this.
(There are some requirements both here and overseas for pilots to be instrument rated, Schwartz says. And also, you want "the right level of maturity" for drones that can drop bombs, "because that's a significant obligation without a doubt.")
Gen. Moseley thought this was a pilot's domain. I'm undecided on that at the moment.
NPR: The Air Force has had some troubles with the handling of its nuclear arsenal. Nuclear fuses were inadvertently sent to Taiwan, after that country requested helicopter batteries. And a B-52 crew mistakenly flew cross-country last year with six nuclear missiles. What can you do to make sure the Air Force sees this as important?
SCHWARTZ: It is important, and there's no escaping the fact that we collectively in our Air Force have lost focus on that mission. And there are a multitude of reasons for that, some organizational. .... We're going to remedy that. There's a whole range of things we will do. We certainly look at organizational alignments. Clearly there will be a champion and there will be an an organization focused on making sure we serve the nuclear missions with the attention it requires.
NPR: Retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the joint chiefs, says your greatest challenge will not be in the nuclear area, but it will be with budgets. Meaning, the challenge of rebuilding an aging Air Force fleet. Is he right?
SCHWARTZ: Clearly, when the era of war supplementals end, we will be in a much more challenging financial situation. In that instance, discipline — being able to array our needs from most to least important, being able to articulate crisply both to our leadership — both here at the Pentagon and very importantly, Capitol Hill — on what the needs are, I think are most important. We're probably going to have to suppress some appetites. But at the same time, I don't intend to be timid about why America has to invest in its Air Force.
We have to achieve balance for the current fight and future fights, so ideally they never come to pass. And this will require brutal honesty on everyone's part. What's needed, what comes first, what can I compromise on?
NPR: Do you see a need for more unmanned aircraft, like the Predator, as opposed to piloted aircraft like the F-22?
SCHWARTZ: I think it's inevitable. Now whether 50 percent of the force is unmanned of 60 or 40, I don't have a good sense of that just yet. I think we will grow, the percentage will increase over time. And the reason for that is very simply: Our technology allows us to do things that would have been unthinkable, shoot, even three years ago, certainly 10 years ago.
NPR: The planned number for production of the new stealth warplane, the F-22, is 183. Gen. Moseley says that the need is nearly double that number — 381. What is your sense?
SCHWARTZ: There are studies that suggest, credible studies — I need to become intimately more familiar with the arguments — that suggest 240 is another sweet spot. As I suggested on the Hill, I think that 183 is not enough, 381 is excess.
NPR: What about those who suggest that there is little need for the F-22, that there is no threat out there that it is suited for? What Air Force is more powerful than the United States Air Force?
SCHWARTZ: If the Georgian Air Force had had a credible capability, the outcome might have been different. This is why we need a full spectrum force. And not just fighter business, this is certainly naval aviation. This is space. This is cyber. This is ground forces, compelling ground forces. This is something America must have. And it will be up to the leadership department, civilian and military, to make it clear what that mix is and what it will take to achieve that.
NPR: Your predecessor, Gen. Moseley, was particularly concerned about China and its buildup of missiles. Saying that should there ever be a war, such missiles would pose a problem for the Air Force. And really pointed out a need for such stealthy planes as the F-22.
SCHWARTZ: The truth of the matter is that it's relatively inexpensive to field very capable missile systems relatively to their aircraft counterparts. [China is] and others are. There are very capable missiles on the commercial market. And so it is important for us to have a capability that is survivable, that can penetrate and that can, if necessary, intimidate.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDYwMzgxODUyMDE2MzQ1Nzg1MTRlNTA2Yg000))