Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Wednesday she expects a key finding of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force’s report, which will be released today, to be a larger USAF role for the reserve component. “There’s no doubt our Air Force will rely more, not less, on the Air National Guard and Reserve,” James said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. She’s looking forward to the report, and said she expects it to complement and inform ideas presented at upcoming posture hearings. It will support her goals of “growing a capable Air Force for tomorrow’s challenges.” And it will help her and service leadership hash out “what it is the nation might ask us to do.” Although, the end result is already predictable, she said: “A smaller Air Force, highly capable, with cutting-edge technology.”
If the Air Force is in line for a big budget bump from President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, the head of Air Combat Command said he would make aircraft spare parts his top spending priority—but cautioned that more money to buy parts won’t equal a…
