Lawmakers who oversee the defense budget are demanding answers from the Air Force about proposals to stop building virtually brand-new aircraft and other systems that the service’s leaders previously touted as vital.
“While trade-offs occur to support force readiness and modernization, truncating programs that only recently transitioned into production and were hailed as supporting critical Air Force missions, such as personnel recovery and future tactical air, calls into question the strategic underpinning of these and other acquisition decisions,” appropriators noted in the report accompanying the latest federal spending law, which was enacted a week ago.
The appropriators’ piercing critique of the basis of Air Force budgeting has received little attention. Their report suggests the Air Force has more work to do in justifying its plans to Congress — perhaps especially when it comes to curtailing major programs built by influential contractors.
