Budget cuts would trim flying hours, F-35 orders: Air Force

[unhappycamper]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-usa-budget-airforce-idUSBRE91602A20130207

Budget cuts would trim flying hours, F-35 orders: Air Force
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 6, 2013 8:41pm EST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force will have to curtail its orders for Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, restructure a $52 billion tanker deal with Boeing Co and reduce its flying hours by 18 percent if lawmakers do not avert impending across-the-board spending cuts, the service told Congress on Wednesday.

The Air Force, in a draft presentation to Congress, said it faced shortfalls of $1.8 billion in war funding and $12.4 billion overall if Congress does not forestall the cuts, known as sequestration, which are due to take effect on March 1.

The impact of sequestration would be exacerbated, the Air Force said, if Congress did not pass a budget for the current fiscal year and stuck with the stop-gap spending measure currently in place, known as a "continuing resolution," or CR.

~snip~

All the military services must tell Congress by Friday how they plan to deal with the automatic budget cuts, which appear increasingly likely to take effect given a continuing impasse between the White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.