Secretary briefs lawmakers in ‘posture’ hearing Published March 3, 2004 By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- The F/A-22 Raptor, sexual harassment, force blending and the tanker lease program were all topics of discussion as the service’s senior executive testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 2.Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James G. Roche, along with the other service secretaries, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee for the service secretaries’ posture portion of the 2005 Department of Defense Authorization hearing series.Despite some minor glitches, the F/A-22 Raptor is destined to guarantee American air dominance, the secretary said.“The limiting problem we have now … has to do with failure of small parts on the plane, such that you don’t get enough sorties per day,” Secretary Roche said.One of the problems is there are only a few subcontractors able to replace faulty parts. The secretary said that problem would plague any future aircraft produced in the United States, including the Joint Strike Fighter.“It’s good to know it now, so hopefully we can prepare for it,” he said.The secretary noted that Russian aircraft currently in development compare favorably with the Air Force’s F-15 Eagle, but the Raptor would prevail in a head-to-head match up.“The planes the former Soviet Union are constructing are very good. But, you bring the F/A-22 into the picture and it changes dramatically,” he said. “The F/A-22 … deters anybody from building a system and thinking they can achieve air dominance because they can’t.”Turning his attention to the area of sexual harassment, the secretary assured the senators that the Air Force is aggressively investigating all reports. Secretary Roche and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper recently commissioned an assessment of sexual assault response systems Air Force-wide.“(We) tasked our major command commanders to include education, training, prevention, reporting procedures, response programs and program oversight in their comprehensive reviews,” he said.The assessment was ordered before recent reports of sexual harassment at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. The secretary said an initial review had been conducted within Pacific Air Forces last autumn to set a benchmark for the rest of the service to follow.Secretary Roche praised a program unique to the Air Force -- one that senators urged other services to examine -- blending active duty and guardsmen into one unit.The Air Force’s 116th Control Wing at Robbins AFB, Ga., blends active-duty and Georgia Air National Guard airmen to operate the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System.“It has proven itself in combat,” Secretary Roche said. “The blended wing has performed magnificently.”Other blending experiments include merging ANG airmen from California and Nevada with Reserve and active-duty forces at Nellis AFB, Nev., to operate the RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle.“We’re looking wherever it makes sense to do it, because it brings the Guard into our most modern systems,” he said.The Air Force’s attempt to lease tankers from Boeing to replace portions of the aging KC-135 Stratotanker fleet came under scrutiny as well. Several lawmakers, including Arizona Senator John McCain, requested the Department of Defense provide Congress documents and e-mails about the proposed tanker lease to aid their review of the plan.