Good morning. This hearing of the subcommittee on readiness and management will come to order. Subcommittee meets today to receive testimony from undersecretary defense for acquisition and sustainment, ellen lord concerning supply chain integrity fourth apartment of defense in the United States. Since her initial confirmation as the under secretary of defense secretary lord has oversensitive give acquisition reform at the department of defense and i am sure we will talk about some of that today. As the u. S. National armament director she has traveled to see the u. S. Throughout the u. S. And the to see our allies and partners with regards to the development and Manufacturing Activities around the world and unfortunately has seen how reliant the u. S. Defense Industrial Base chain has become particularly as it relates to china. With the rise of china and Great Power Competition and the Global Pandemic the vulnerabilities and gaps in our supply chain particularly as it relates to the Na
Subcommittee meets today to receive testimony from under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, ellen lord, concerning supply chain integrity for the department of defense in the United States. Since our her initial confirman as the undersecretary of defense, secretary lord has overseen significant acquisition reform at the department of defense, and a chill well talk about some of that today. As the u. S. National armaments director she has traveled to see the u. S. , throughout the u. S. And to see our allies and partners with regard to the development and Manufacturing Activities around the world, and, unfortunately, has seen firsthand just how reliant the u. S. Defense Industrial Base chain has become come to class relates to china. With the rise of china and Great Power Competition of the global covid19 pandemic, the vulnerabilities and gaps in our supply chains particularly as relates to National Security have taken on a new urgency. What you think Ranking Member k
Electronic file, we are making we are innovating as we go through this process with our customer. This has been a concurrent program. So we concurrently have developed, produced and sustained this aircraft and the products that we utilize to do that. An electronic equipment log book contains quite a bit of sophisticated engineering information. It doesnt simply just track a part. It includes technical data, graphical data, and data, it contains a lot of different information. Through the business process there are elements that we can corrupt this data. It can be presented that way or a customer can misinput information and so there are a lot of complexities relative to the book and we have worked with the jpo and weve seen improvement up to 83 ready for issue, and im fully committed to supporting that continued engagement to resolve those issues going forward. Im also committed to meeting with the Defense Contract Management Agency as well as the jpo to sit down and reconcile the conc
The chair is authorized to declare a recess at any t time i now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good morning todays hearing will focus on the f35 joint Strike Fighter a highly technical Stealth Fighter that is the pentagons largest and most costly acquisition programs in cf 35 Program Began more than 20 years ago the department of defense more than 350 billion onts Development Total cost to sustain the program is estimated at more than 1 trillion. Unfortunately this program is plagued by challenges including major problems with maintenance of the aircraft. This hearing will address the many, time and manpower the military is forceded to spend for spare parts from Lockheed Martin. Juneck 2019 the dod Inspector General found over a threeyear period more than 15000 spare parts for the f35 lacked dialogue that maintains Important Information of the spare parts. 2020 Committee Staff from the majority and minority visited multiple military bases and interviewed personnel who maint
I am pleased that it is one we can work in a bipartisan manner. I believe we all want a Strong Military and a strong private sector and a strong government that is wisely tracking taxpayers money and spending it efficiently for the purposes that it was meant for. I look forward to working with the Ranking Member in the future and i am so pleased he is with us here today. Without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time and i now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good morning. Todays hearing will focus on the f35 joint strike fighter. A highly technical stuff fighter that the pentagon largest and most costly acquisition program. Since the 35 Program Began more than 20 years ago the department of defense has spent more than 350 billion on its development. Total cost to sustain the program are estimated at more than 1 trillion. Unfortunately, this expensive program has been plagued by challenges for years, including major problems with ma