Meanwhile, Air Force leaders continue to press Congress to allow the service to manage its own inventory of aircraft, saying that without that control the service faces “risk” in its ability to meet future requirements. In a statement to the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, noted that 14 percent of its aircraft are “either grounded or operating under mission-limiting flight restrictions.” They asserted that “current legislative restrictions” would cost the service “up to $1.7 billion annually through 2013.”
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
