Air Force and Army officials confirmed at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing that the services could be short of funds to cover implementation of all BRAC 2005 actions—the gap could be as much as $10 billion. The Air Force estimates it is short by about $2 billion. However, William Anderson, Assistant Secretary for Installations, said he believes the Air Force can reduce that to much less by identifying ways to cut costs—or “scrubbing”—individual projects. Anderson expressed confidence that the service could “pull the remaining gap together” or would somehow “find the money.”
The Air Force plans to start buying thousands of advanced new handheld radios in 2027 for downed aircrew to communicate with search-and-rescue forces, a capability spotlighted earlier this year during the recovery of two aviators shot down in Iran.