$119.6 Billion Requested For Next Fiscal Year
The Air Force's budget request for fiscal 2011 provides the
right balance between supporting the war efforts and other
current-day commitments while posturing for future challenges, the
top Air Force civilian and military leaders told Congress
Tuesday.
The $119.6 billion request is designed to ensure the Air Force has
what it needs to support four strategic priorities outlined in the
2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, Air Force Secretary Michael B.
Donley told the House Armed Services Committee. "First, we must
prevail in today's wars," Donley told the panel. "Your Air Force
understands the gravity of the situation in Afghanistan, and as we
continue to responsibly draw down the forces in Iraq, we are
committed to rapidly fielding needed capabilities for the joint
team."
This, Donley said, includes surging intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance assets into the theater and maximizing air
mobility to accelerate the flow of forces into Afghanistan.
Preventing and deterring conflicts across the spectrum of warfare
is another priority in the budget request, Donley told committee
members.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz noted that in
addition to providing critical air and space power for the joint
and coalition team, airmen are providing battlefield medical
support and evacuation, ordnance disposal, convoy security and
other missions. "The reality is, the country's at war," he said.
"And if there is a demand, if there is a need for us to serve a
wartime function, we will do so."
Continuing to strengthen the nuclear enterprise is a top Air
Force priority, Schwartz said. "The rigor of our nuclear surety
inspections demonstrates a new commitment to the highest levels of
performance," he said. "But we must and we will do even more to
ensure 100 percent precision and reliability in our nuclear
operations and logistics 100 percent of the time."
Donley (pictured, right) pointed to the standup last year
of Air Force Global Strike Command and the realignment of the Air
Force intercontinental ballistic missile and bomber wings under a
single commander. In addition, the Air Force stood up a nuclear
weapons center to consolidate management of all nuclear weapons
sustainment activities. Meanwhile, the Air Force is increasing its
engagement around the world, building partner capability in
Afghanistan and Iraq while developing a training framework that
emphasizes light attack and mobility capabilities that can benefit
other nations as well, he said.
Another priority driving the budget request is the need to be
prepared to defeat adversaries and succeed in a wide range of
contingencies. "We need to ensure that we are providing the right
capabilities with our strategic airlift and ISR platforms and
ensure our space-based assets continue to deliver needed
capabilities for the future," Donley said.
At the same time, the Air Force must ensure its weapons systems
strained by two decades of sustained operations are up to the task,
the Air Force secretary said. This involves modernizing some
aircraft and retiring and recapitalizing many of the legacy
fighters and tankers, replacing them with F-35 Lighting II joint
strike fighters and KC-X next-generation aerial tankers.
"Awarding a new aerial refueling aircraft contract remains our
top acquisition priority," Schwartz said. He called the F-35
program another imperative, noting that it will be the workhorse
driving much of the Air Force and the joint force forward. Both
Schwartz and Donley emphasized the importance of long-range strike
capability, supporting development of a family of systems that will
provide penetration as well as standoff capabilities for the next
20 or 30 years.
"We need to get on with a long-range strike capability to
replace the legacy bombers that we're operating today, and to get
ahead and stay ahead of evolving threats in that area," Donley
said. Another principle driving the budget request is the need to
preserve and enhance what Donley called the Air Force's most
valuable resource: its airmen. "This budget request supports these
airmen and our continuing efforts to rebalance the force, make
difficult decisions on what we buy and sustain our needed
contributions to the joint team," Schwartz said.