Pacific forces and we will talk more about that this morning. I want to offer you the opportunity including our online viewers including twitter and youtube. He has a command pilot although he says that is not the end all the all of why he joined. He was commissioned from texas tech. He has commanded many Different Levels but what i think my favorite partas military kids. You have two grown sons we talk about regularly. Thank you for coming here. My pleasure. [applause] its on the screen. Thats for anybody who wants to send in your questions. I thought we could talk about air men and their families. There is still about a lot of data recently, not just financial but some surveys that troops are worried about fighting. We hear about the mitigating of inflation. That must be front and center. Im looking at a budget request in for next year which starts in a few weeks. It would be for present and theres a new department of labor report that puts defense purchases closer to 15. Thats a lot of money and military pay is a big chunk of that. Are you hearing about Inflation Impact on troops and families and are you worried about it . You spent some time talking to airmen. When you look at the action words i have, its how we take care of airmen and their families. Before i get to inflation, i had six all calls at the beginning of the month. My wife is focused on that as well and she has a Lifestyle Program for spouses and families. Its the five areas that families have highlighted. Childcare, education, health care. Those are key areas that impact not only families but impacts us from a retention standpoint. As we do budget cycles, we cannot predict the future. Go through a process. We get some Planning Guidance and as we did that, thats where we work with the internal department but also with congress how to approach where inflation is today stop part of the discussion with airmen is how responsive we are. They say they the government is not as responsive as they should be to address aspects of inflation. Its not just this past year for the past couple of years. Because of covid and other areas , the Housing Market and rent in particular is going up in certain areas so we did some temporary things to help certain low patient, about 52 locations across the department. Its something i look at and how responsible we can be in certain allowances and how we can be more responsive. What we dont want to do is to have a roller coaster that is so responsive. Its got to have some kind of balance. Weve had some discussions of how we start to address this. The same thing when we look at the overseas locations. We make these adjustments and make them smoother but we want to be more pragmatic that we for past. Congress is seeking to add additional funds and i applied i applaud the eagerness of congress to address inflation but i worry about things more. This impacts Family Budgets yearoveryear stop the military pay raise in 2021 was 3 and 2. 7 this year and 4. 6 expected next year. Im worried of a real pay cut of 12 might be an area you want to talk to congress about . As we engage with congress we will engage in a number of different areas. There is a monetary aspect of what goes into one should each one of our airmens check books. There are other things we do that are not fiscal two inch to ensure we are taking care of airmen and their families. Because back to areas that are helpful to families that dont necessarily get a pay raise so theres some areas we need to work on. I get feedback from airmen and my wife. I guess she talks to airmens spouses. Has the impact of inflation reacted to the organic base . It hasnt gotten to the point but as i engage with smart industry partners, they have a hard time hiring and retaining a workforce which to me is a signal that it will take longer and it will cost more. No matter what happens, i believe we have to make tough choices. How we prioritize is how we make those tough choices. This labor shortage, industrial bases have experienced this. It does not seem to be a covid specific thing been a longterm shift in america. Its obviously impacting the armed forces as well stop i believe your head of recruiting called it a week to week dogfight. Tell me what you think about the recruiting challenges. How will you better communicate to the youth who need to sign up . For this particular fiscal year, we will end up landing on fumes. We have a pool of folks who are waiting to join. The aspect of the workforce but that dynamic of the workforce coming out of covid is different than when i came in. I learned a lot from my two sons. We get a look at how we recruit differently and how we engage. As the air force has gotten smaller as well as the number of bases and those who have a relative that has served has gotten smaller and the numbers of members of congress that have served has gotten smaller. We have to say how we will Better Connect with people. Those who they turn to talk about the opportunities. My dad is retired army. For years and get out was my original plan. I didnt want to become of pilot but i have flown 17 different aircraft in my career. I still get to fly. Ive been on all seven continents as part of my air force career and grew up as a military kids. I know more about opportunities. Where i what to do is share that with others. There are opportunities to serve as an air force civilian those who dont want to wear a uniform. Our allies and partners said young people want to served they want to serve in a different way. They may want debts that may not want to serve for 20 years. We understand that. How do we talk about the opportunities in the air force to them . Those of the kinds of things we have to figure out differently than we have in the past. I remember i was working on capital hill in the navy was pulling out of the space race and england. The consolidation of bases has become more greasy lies more regionalized. It was mentioned by the general in his grim overview but he said the one bright spot future records dish future recruits tournament whether or not they served in junior rotc. Just having been to school was helping the army. It is having an impact for us. You dont want to grow up to be something youve never seen. They see that aspect. We have a Flight Academy where we take in young people and they get about an eight week program. I met an Army Guardsman and his son had just finished the Flight Academy and he wants to fly. We are seeing programs like junior rotc create a propensity for young people to come into the military. We are about a year way of understanding those who got a regular license then go to a pilot license. You got to focus on some areas and provide an opportunity. You may not get a chance to fly but there are great opportunities in the United States air force. Lets talk about your vision as chief. You had a recent trip to nine or 11 countries . You said it was focus on airmen but also want to look at it through the context of overseeing the job. What is the report card from the ground. I would give it a solid c in some areas. As a engage with airmen, they feel the energy not in the need to change theirs a lot of energy there. It changed our doctrine to look admission command. Theres been some positive things. You never pick something that takes four years to do a fouryear job. I had been pleased with the partnership. I had never worked with them before. We have a similar mindset. I could not ask for a better partner in certain areas to help myself and the rest the yard for our air force change. Its very positive in many areas. They see some of the same frustrations i see with bureaucracy. I encourage them to move in a direction and ask for permission but makes our smart risk assessments. There is a lot of good deas that come out of the pentagon. In execution it doesnt always work out. I want to look more at enterprise be beyond the individual airmen. Theres a slightly different aspect of this. Thats been a lot of the drive in the defense and the motivation which increases the specific changes. Lets think bigger. How do you categorize the three most important Posture Priorities in the pacific . Ive seen a bit of a shift collectively on the focus on the indo pacific. Now that i am in washington, and now they are more focused on the indo pacific. Ive spent time with my counterparts in singapore and philippine. I also start to see more and more ships with full person commodities. You mentioned different types of items but i also see a shift in that direction even with the Current Events in europe. That is a positive when you talk about the aspect of acceleration. We are making shifts we are moving as fast as we possibly could. We could probably move faster in some areas but i see that though momentum moving in that direction. Thats the feedback i got for my partners in the region. It is also a global effort. European nations are focused on the indo pacific. There are some positive trendlines. I want to make sure any threats we continue to deter. Maybe you want to move faster but still pushing the rock up hill. When you get your next generation are aircraft. Going back five years, is the air force ready . I believe you have to do stand on an standoff and thats what we are focused on. The other aspect is how we look at our base resiliency. That includes how we do dispersion and camouflage and had we make sure we can continue to generate combat power knowing the threat will be different. Weve got some more to do. Can you give me any hot tips for dish from the chief about ukraine or beijing . There are several things i take away. We are all learning something so the power of information and how information played into some of the decisionmaking leading up to and during the past six months. Yet but how we can share. It was the aspect of information. You can see the value that air force can play in the aspect of what the ukraines was denied russia the ability to use firepower so thats what we think about collectively. Its also the doctrine of how the soviets have operated where their power goes with groundcover tori turned its how we partner with their allies in part. Its our ability to respond as air forces and have general heckard today is the african commander but also the head of air con. People been working on this for a number of years but that if that comes to fruition, youve done all the prework and make sure weve got the conductivity and approaches to new received you new procedures. When the House Speaker travels to taiwan, beijing demonstrated air and naval supremacy. Are you considering a blockade for an island that almost entirely importance food from china, that could be tricky but not an invasion. My no clearance understanding is that you focus on the invasion. Are you are you thinking we need to think bigger about the possibilities . It was recently said the prc played their cards. Which card, we are not sure. We are going to learn something based on what they just did. I think in any case, anytime we try to predict the future, we do not get it right. We can help shape the future. Using that information to take a look at something that already happened, because something always changed. The aspect of continuous analysis will be important to use what we saw, but also what we have seen over the course of the past several years and in the future to shape how we might do things and prepare ourselves. Fair. We have a couple more minutes, i am grateful for that. I want to talk on acquisition, it is linked a little bit not just hardware, but software. I would argue the air force last year, it was pretty spectacular. One outlet described it, another said the u. S. Is already lost to the ai flight to china. I want to talk about software. Are you looking for replacement . I have watched part of the fallout, i realize our Previous Software officer was frustrated on various aspects. I know the secretary was looking at how we approach the future chief software officers. But by the same token, i am also paying attention to the software and the aspect of how we use software in the development of future capability and make sure the workforce is able to work, how we train them and how we collaborate with the industry. We have very patriotic americans and allies and partners that want to work with us. How do we not make it so hard . The department of defense is a big organization, they are a small company. Which door do you knock on . We have got to make it easier to work with and be able to develop software and move forward. Some of our policies are from the dialup modem era. Floppy disk. We have got to be able to have policies, there is risk moving forward. Being able to do software more dynamically. It is linked to some Acquisition Priorities you have. I am wondering if your team how have you improved the adoption of commercial technology, so there is more capacity in mass adoption . It has really taken root, when i go out and visit bases, the energy they put into it not only from a software standpoint, but being lean and agile. In the future, we will not be able to go to the bases in the middle east. Many of the ones we operate are the ones we went to. I told them, you are not going to go someplace where wifi is set up already. Where do i put my bags . You have to go from scratch, get it going. Maybe tear it down to move it to the next location. It is a mindset. You have to add things that are very userfriendly, think about your smartphone. It has got to be intuitive. That is the aspect of software and we want to bring software and other tools we see in our daytoday lives into the department of defense and air force in particular to make it easier. They have the skill set to do this, we just have to make it easier for them to bring in that capo type of capability and technology. Whether it is for companies or Small Companies to bring that capability. Do you agree you need a more more posture in the western pacific to fuel ammunition . [indiscernible] expanded, tested, pulled out everything, put it back in. Cycled through it, then they were able to fall in. Are you seeing similar needs in that region . That is the whole aspect. In past environments, we would disperse on an airfield. What we look at is how we disperse across airfields. The more you can operate from, the more options we have. It is places you have to Pay Attention to. Not only do it ahead of a conflict, but how do we do it on a daytoday basis so we do it like you described, to be able to have equipment capability we are able to use for exercise so allies and partners see it and we are not shipping equipment back and forth. That is a process we are working through. Last question. You mentioned earlier about the terrific pilot program. I hope that will help in the pipeline to reduce stress on airlines for private shortages, particularly fighter pilots. I didnt know if you wanted to update us. I wanted to ask a specific question, for each pilot you have a bunch of maintainers. I know this is something you are thinking about. The f35 dynamic, i know they are more generous in the defense bill this year than last year. They are moving containers around for the f35. Am i right that the Flight Academy could help with the Pilot Shortage . Is it Getting Better in general . And how are you thinking about the maintainer jenga . On the pilot aspect, we have several initiatives in place to increase production. At the same time how do we use some of the technology so it is more focused on the individual . If they have aptitude, they could move faster through the course in some aspects. We will be challenged, it is a national asset. Whether it is for the commercial sector or the military. That is something we will continue to work on, we will continue to engage with our commercial friends. A lot of times, we hope produce what ends up in their cockpits. We are in this together. So we do Pay Attention to that aspect. The thing we think about is, as we bring on new capabilities, we do not have airmen sitting and waiting on the bench to go execute. The same airmen are operating and maintaining the platform the other day are the same we will retrain to do the next. Whether it is f35 or a 10, we have a plan. There are no additional airmen waiting for us to make a change. It is a bit of a puzzle. Every time we are not able to do something, it has a ripple effect. One thing i have responsibility for his engaging with members and staffers on the hill to explain the process and having a plan. I think that has helped us transition to the kc 46, it has helped us on the hill to start the process. Part of it is the dialogue. There cannot be a dialogue when the budget goes over, it has to be before. That is one of my goals. I know it is a multiyear effort on your part. Our first question is from bloomberg. They are asking about current concerns with the f35 a, if you are seeing any. [indiscernible] the last estimate we have is 36,000 per hour. We have been working very closely, engaging with the joint program office. It has been a topic, i engage with leadership from each one of those organizations on a regular basis. I want to make sure we bring the cost down. We kind of shifted a bit to look at per year rather than flying hour. Some of our estimates were optimistic. We were reassessing. What we do as we get more aircraft and learn more about the plane, we are starting to see the cost come down. It is probably a bit optimistic. [indiscernible] i get nervous on the outside, it gets harder to track. Why the change . It gives you better perspective. Great question, then we will come in house right after this. Secretary of state is prepared to make short and longer term adjustments to response provocations from north korea in june. Are you thinking about any plans to adjust air force posture . No. No conversations. I will tell you, i was in the republic of korea recently, i had a chance to meet with the general, my counterpart. The discussion was the exercise program. We had the first 35s on the peninsula recently, that is something we have been talking about. What i do see is increasing cooperation, like i have seen throughout my air force career. In washington where we are today, we made a lot of progress. I do not know we have got guys to start any planning. We have got a good relationship. I would be interested in your thinking about the mission sets for manned and unmanned platforms, and how you see that potentially changing in a 10 or 15 year timeframe. We are heading down the path of crude and unaccrued aircraft. Crewed and uncrewed aircraft. If you recal