The military services’ secretaries and chiefs presented
their respective branch’s fiscal year 2017 budget plan March 16 on Capitol
Hill.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Air Force Chief of
Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III testified on the Air Force’s fiscal 2017 national
defense authorization budget request, and explained how it directly supports
the branch’s top three priorities.
“When we testified before you last year, I outlined our
three priorities: taking care of people, balancing readiness and modernization,
and making every dollar count,” James told members of the House Armed Services
Committee. “These priorities haven’t changed. What has changed since last year
are the threats and challenges faced by our nation.”
James went on to say that since last year, more than 55,000
sorties have been flown in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, while
adversaries have conducted illegal weapons testing and rocket launches. She
also addressed growing threats in both space and cyberspace.
“The Air Force is fully engaged in every region of the
world, in every mission area and across the full spectrum of military
operations,” James said. “Plainly, in my opinion, we’ve never been busier on
such a sustained, global basis. And we are doing all this with 200,000 fewer
people and 79 fewer fighter squadrons than we had at the time of Operation
Desert Storm.
“The constant downsizing over the past years has been
stressful to the Air Force’s most important resource – its Airmen and their
families,” James said. “This has to stop.”
A balance of capacity, capability and readiness was required
in the fiscal 2017 budget submission in order to successfully confront current
challenges, she said.
The Air Force made “tough” choices when it submitted this
year’s budget, including the deferral of five F-35 Lightning IIs and three
C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, as well as some upgrades to some missile
warning and radio systems and infrastructure improvements.
According to the budget proposal, more growth will be needed
in fiscal 2017, specifically in critical career fields such as intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance, cyber, maintenance and battlefield Airmen. To
meet present mission requirements, Guard and Reserve personnel are performing
more cyber, command and control, mobility and space missions.
“I plan to take a judicious approach to incrementally
increase our total force beyond the current level, provided we can attract the
right talent,” James said.
In response to world changes, both James and Welsh agreed
adjustments must be made, to include re-phasing of the A-10 Thunderbolt II and
EC-130H Compass Call retirements, and being able to provide the combatant
commander’s number one demand of the Air Force – ISR. In terms of readiness,
the service aims to fund flying hours to the maximum executable level, invest
in weapons system sustainment and ensure combat exercises like Red and Green
Flag remain strong. Additionally, the Air Force’s senior leaders seek to
modernize the force with ongoing investments in support of nuclear deterrence,
space and cyberspace priorities.
Welsh also testified that all three legs of the nuclear
triad – strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and
submarine-launched ballistic missiles – remain vital to national security.
“I believe the triad has been very effective over time,”
Welsh said. “I think nuclear deterrence has been the security wallpaper for
this country since we stood up our nuclear capability, and I think it should
continue. I believe without all three legs of the triad you expose seams in
that nuclear deterrence posture to certain enemies.”