: Air 
Force Secretary Michael Donley offered some numbers on July 25 to gauge the pain of implementing sequestration on the Air Force’s budget in January, should Congress fail to steer away from that fiscal cliff. Operations and maintenance accounts would lose $6 billion; “procurement would come down $4.5 billion;” and research, development, test, and evaluation activities would have to make due with $3.4 billion less, said Donley during a Capitol Hill address sponsored by AFA, the National Defense Industrial Association, and Reserve Officers Association. Those numbers assume that there is an exemption to the sequestration for personnel, he said. Sequestration would do “significant damage” to the military, and if it takes hold with a personnel exemption, that damage would grow from a baseline 10 percent to 13 percent, he said. “All our programs would have to be reduced, restructured, or terminated,” he said. Donley believes that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has finally succeeded in getting Congress to “understand the effects” of sequestration.
NATO Fighters Shoot Down Russian Drones Over Poland
Sept. 10, 2025
Russian drones were shot down by NATO fighter jets over Polish airspace, alliance officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine Sept. 10, marking the first time allied aircraft have used force to defend its airspace.
