Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2015
Floor Speech
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Well, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from Florida, who is championing a cause that is near and dear to my heart, a platform that I have spent many hours in. I flew combat off of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and the north Arabian Sea. In the E-2 Hawkeye, I flew combat in Afghanistan, flew combat in Iraq.
I can tell you that the missions that we did, airborne battle space command and control, and control of the assets that provide close air support to our troops on the ground, was critically important to the mission in both theaters. I can tell you that we did air intercept control in order to have dominance of the skies. We provided airborne early warning.
It is not without reason that the E-2 Hawkeye is the first aircraft that comes off of the aircraft carrier when we launch a mission, and it is the last aircraft to come back. We are the first ones to the fight, and we are the last ones home.
It is also not without reason that when the E-2 gets airborne, when the rest of the air wing is on the deck and the ship is steaming across the ocean, the Hawkeye is always working because we are that airborne early warning asset that can provide threat recognition to the carrier battle group.
The Hawkeye is a critical node in America's force structure, and I would say that I was also involved in generating the requirements for the next generation Hawkeye, the E-2D. And Congress has recognized the value of the E-2D by providing the Navy with multiyear procurement authority. Multiyear procurement drives down costs by enabling block buys, improving supplier surety, and stabilizing production lines. As my friend from Florida knows, the Navy requested four E-2Ds for the fiscal year 15 budget request, which is one less anticipated.
I would just like to thank the chairman of the committee for being able to work with us on ensuring that we can get another E-2D Hawkeye.
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