OKC Standard

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), interrogated witnesses during a Subcommittee on Airland hearing. The hearing was to receive testimony on Air Force modernization in review of the FY25 President’s Budget and posture for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Sen. Mullin discussed with Lieutenant General David A. Harris, USAF, Lieutenant General Richard G. Moore, Jr., USAF, and Andrew P. Hunter, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics about Air Force modernization efforts and their impact on Oklahoma’s military installations.

Mullin raised questions about changes to training processes at Vance Air Force Base (AFB) and Altus AFB and the transition from the E-3 to E-7 aircraft at Tinker AFB.

In his remarks, Mullin said: “Vance is one of the top pilot training centers in the country. Where are we at with changing those programs there and where does it leave the Air Force bases when you start talking about what is the future of Vance and what is the future of Altus in their current mission?”

He expressed concern over conditions at Vance AFB: “At Vance, I have a concern because you’re changing a lot of your flight time to simulators…When you start looking at the simulators and their training... some of the simulators you all have set up at Vance is literally a warehouse. This warehouse was 100 degrees if not over... I don’t see anything new for Vance to be able to meet the training that you guys are asking them to do except for using old infrastructure.”

Mullin extended an invitation to visit Vance: “I’d love to invite you guys there... If we’re talking about retaining the best, sometimes conditions do matter.”

Finally, he addressed issues related to Tinker AFB: “We have a problem at Tinker with providing for our mission when we have an [project timeline] overrun of the E -7s when we’re phasing out the E-3s... What is our actual plan?”