The Air Force has added $16 billion to its original $17.4 billion Fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental request, making a total of $33.4 billion for 2007, Air Force spokesperson Maj. Morshe Araujo told the Daily Report Tuesday. In late October, DOD prompted all the services to rethink their 2007 requests, taking a longer view and adding to their requests where needed. Gen. Ronald Keys, head of Air Combat Command, told defense reporters earlier this month that the Air Force, for one, had “some things we’ve been overlooking.” He was referring to the wear and tear on equipment, whether it’s an aircraft or a down range ground radar. Said Keys, “We’ve primarily been looking at operations and maintenance: How many bullets have you fired? How many bombs have you dropped? How much food have you consumed? … And not the recapitalization of the force.”
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
