Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scratching their heads over the Air Force’s 2007 unfunded priority list which includes a request for seven additional C-17 airlifters. At a Wednesday House hearing on the budget, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, attempted to answer why the service has added seven C-17s to its requirements, making a total of 187, when the 2007 budget shows the production line stopping at 180—a number they maintained would be sufficient. The answer, stated Moseley, is that the “wartime utilization rates” were “unforeseen.”
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3