AF Chief: Budget Request Gaining Ground

[unhappycamper]

AF Chief: Budget Request Gaining Ground
Aviation Week's DTI | Amy Butler and Bettina H. Chavanne | November 29, 2007

NEW YORK -- U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says his push to garner an extra $20 billion per year to boost the service's procurement plans is "beginning to get some traction" with the White House.

Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley have consistently told Congress that the extra funding is required to pay for aircraft -- including the F-22, Joint Strike Fighter, future refueling tanker and next-generation combat search and rescue helicopter -- in higher quantities and at lower per unit costs.

"We are actually starting to hear a little bit of melody," on this initiative, Wynne told an audience Nov. 28 at the Aerospace & Defense Finance conference here, hosted by Credit Suisse and Aviation Week. To get the extra money, the White House Office of Management and Budget would have to insert it into the passback, a document that outlines topline budget guidance as the Pentagon forms its fiscal 2009 budget. In recent years, the services have been hampered by last-minute budget cuts that arrive late in December, forcing reductions on major programs.

As operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to dominate the Pentagon's budget priorities, the Air Force and Navy have joined forces to argue for a higher percentage of gross domestic product to be dedicated to defense spending.

Though Wynne says he also would like to keep the F-22 line open beyond fiscal 2013 -- the current multiyear procurement includes funding for 20 of the stealthy twin-engine fighters in fiscal 2009 -- he says it is a "year-to-year" battle. Noting that his strategy of an annual fight on the issue parts slightly with that of Moseley, who is pushing to secure another multiyear deal with contractor Lockheed Martin, Wynne says that he would like to keep the Marietta, Ga., line open as long as possible. Wynne said the fiscal 2009 budget includes funding to close the F-22 production line, a standard measure required when a facility shutdown is imminent. However, he added that Congress appears willing to reallocate the money to the advance procurement account to extend production.

Wynne also notes that the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) is a weapon "we have absolutely got to fix." The Lockheed Martin-made stealthy cruise missile ran into major problems after a cost overrun earlier this year coupled with a major dip in reliability after the discovery of a Global Positioning System dropout issue. Air Force officials already have flight-tested the fix to the GPS problem, and they say the flight demonstrations so far have been successful.


Article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,157249,00.html



uhc comment: Wynne's complaining about the 2009 cuts in F-22s and C-17s --> No extra F-22s, C-17s for USAF in 2009