Don’t expect great funding infusions or schedule acceleration in the Air Force’s long-range strike activities as a result of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ plans to reduce aircraft carriers and submarines, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the Daily Report Thursday. Commenting on Gates’ speech to the Navy League on Monday (see “Blacker Saturday?” above), Donley said “I wouldn’t read the Navy speech as putting emphasis on long-range strike,” but as a simple recitation of the economic facts of life. He added, “We are all facing the prospect of more program than our budgets can sustain,” he said (see Internal Problem above)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.