If the Air Force is to replenish its depleted inventory of precision weapons, it must have a more stable funding stream, uniformed acquisition chief Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch said on March 16. “If we really want to build up” the precision weapons inventory, “longer term, and if we want to grow farther than where we are today, I think we’re going to have to make a commitment to industry” so they know it’s safe to invest in more workers and production lines, Bunch said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. “What we can’t do is, ‘dollars in, dollars out, dollars in, dollars out,’” in a chronic seesaw of funding. “If we really want industry to do this, we’re going to have to have a stable line of funding for weapons for years to come so they know it’s worthwhile to put that investment in there so they can get a return. And I want them to get a return, I don’t want them to lose money.”
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.