In his first interview, new Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. William Mullen declared that the US military must have more money to reconstitute after years of war and to prepare for future challenges, reports Thom Shanker of the New York Times. Mullen asserted that he considered it one of his key roles to argue to sustain higher military budgets. He said, “I think as a country we’re just going to have to devote more resources to national security in the world that we’re living in right now.” Air Force leaders already have stated that the service needs an additional $20 billion per year to recapitalize and sustain rising operations and maintenance costs.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.