The Air Force’s planning director, Lt. Gen. Raymond Johns told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference on Tuesday afternoon that the $20 billion annual shortfall the service has identified in its budget undercuts the service’s ability to reach its Quadrennial Defense Review-mandated goal of organizing, training, and equipping 86 combat wing equivalents. Without a funding infusion, the service will only be able to equip 78 combat wings, and “that’s risk,” he said. The money needs to start flowing now—Johns said the budget disconnect begins with a $9 billion shortfall in Fiscal 2009.
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
