The Vice Chief of the Air Force, Gen. John Corley, told lawmakers Tuesday afternoon that Air Force readiness has declined by 20 percent since 2001. “We are strained and readiness is at risk,” declared Corley. He attributes much of the “disturbing trend” to the service’s inability to replace and modernize its aging fleet of aircraft. To make matters worse, Corley explained that USAF has “about 1,300 fewer airplanes, but we’re flying them at the same rate we were 13 years ago.”
The National Reconnaissance Office is seeing “great output” from its constellation of proliferated low Earth orbit satellites and is working with the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability, according to Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Chris Povak.
