Pete Geren, the Acting Secretary of the Air Force, has some sobering news: The service’s recapitalizaton problem, he says, will still be around to haunt Air Force leaders 20 years from now. He believes the age of the service’s aircraft inventory is “particularly critical now” because USAF has not been able to recapitalize and modernize in such a long time. However, if the service buys the aircraft and upgrades planned over the next five years, the problem will still exist. In effect, “It will never go away,” Geren maintains. He adds, “There will never be a time” to be “complacent about the need for investment in new technology.”
The Air Force budget would grow to $234 billion while Space Force spending would shrink to $26 billion under the White House's yearly ask.