Air Force Reserve Command officials of the 934th Airlift Wing at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport/Air Reserve Station, Minn., gained an additional five years to use private property for practice air drops when they signed a new lease agreement in mid-November with the landowner, Burdette Stief, a World War II Army veteran. The Reserve wing has leased the land for the past 25 years, while before that a joint use with the Air National Guard dated to the 1960s. Yes, Stief gets paid—now $33,600 per year—but Reserve officials say he could have chosen to develop the property.
The Air Force budget would grow to $234 billion while Space Force spending would shrink to $26 billion under the White House's yearly ask.