Daily Report

March 23, 2017

The Rusty Month of May

A year-long continuing resolution would cause a funding crisis similar to that caused by sequestration in 2013, and it would start in May, Air Force vice chief of staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said Wednesday. Speaking at a McAleese/Credit Suisse conference...

The Big Dig

It will take about eight years to “dig ourselves out” of the readiness hole the Air Force is in, vice chief of staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said Wednesday during a McAleese/Credit Suisse conference in Washington, D.C. In order to reach...

Unaffordable Nukes

If the national leadership decides to modernize the US nuclear arsenal, “you can forget about readiness or modernization” of the conventional force, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday. Smith, speaking at a...

USAF Considers Replacing F-15Cs with Upgraded F-16s

The Air Force is considering whether it will retire its F-15C fleet and replace it with F-16s with upgraded active electronically scanned array radars, service leaders told House legislators on Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Scott Rice, director of the Air National...

Funding Next-Gen Air Dominance

The Air Force is adding $100 million to its Penetrating Counter-Air or Next-Generation Air Dominance spending request for 2017, but the added funds don’t signal a change in the program, the service’s top uniformed acquisition official said Wednesday. Lt. Gen....

US Pledges Stability Zones in ISIS Fight

The US will set up “interim zones of stability” in the fight against ISIS, but allied nations must do more militarily and financially to combat the group, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday. Speaking at a meeting of the...

Lock It Down Back There, R-2

The “big data” revolution means that in the not-too-distant future, “every airman” will have a device like the Amazon Alexa or even an “R2-D2,” vice chief of staff Gen. Stephen Wilson predicted Wednesday. These devices will “sift through vast amounts...

DOD Expects Huey Replacement by 2021

The Pentagon’s supplemental request calls for a $1.8 billion increase in Air Force aircraft procurement, a step that could help move forward the deployment of new aircraft to the Air Force’s missile fields. During a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing...