Primes line up to compete for JSTARS recap program.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

* The next version of the Air Force's joint surveillance and attack radar aircraft will have a smaller airframe, along with updated radar, communications and battle management suites.

But JSTARS is a recapitalization program, not something new, Col. David Learned, the program's senior material leader said.

"The war fighters want the existing capability--what they have in the field now--but at a reduced lifecycle cost," he said in an interview. This is not a developmental program, he stressed. In fact, the Air Force has colored the first round in the procurement process as an "engineering contract."

"We're recapitalizing a combat proven capability," he said.

The Air Force-Army JSTARS E-8C carries a radar that provides intelligence on the movement of ground forces, plus a battle management system. The current fleet was built from second-hand Boeing 707-300 aircraft, which are expected to come to the end of their service lives in the early 2020s. As older airframes, they are expensive to operate and maintain.

After the Air Force's self-proclaimed top three most important acquisition programs--the joint strike fighter, the long-range bomber and aerial refuelers--the service considers JSTARS its "number four" priority, Learned said.

"From my perspective, the Air Force has been all in," he added. The program is fully funded in fiscal year 2015 and he hoped for the same in 2016. There is $2.4 billion budgeted through the following five years.

William LaPlante, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, cautioned that programs such as JSTARS, when it comes to budgets, can be dicey. It could be another three years after the preliminary design review when the Defense Department gives the green light to proceed.

"There's always these programs that are right on the edge. ... That's what I warn people about--particularly in this [budget] climate that we're in today--that just because you start a milestone A, the real commitment won't come for about three years," he said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies speech.

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall doesn't approve programs unless he is assured that they are fully funded and the service can afford them, he added.

Before coming to a final budget decision, contractors will have to reduce the technological risks, LaPlante added.

Learned said this will be an integration challenge. The four main components that will have to work together...