Strategy

Decades of Air Force Underfunding Threaten America’s Ability to Win

The Air Force’s budget has been less than the Navy and Army’s for the last 30 years in a row. The Army received over $1.3 trillion more than the Air Force between 2002–2021, an average of $66 billion more per year than the Air Force. These sorts of realities repeatedly prompted service officials to pursue “divest to invest” modernization strategies that introduced significant risk and failed to effectively balance modernization, force size, and readiness. Resetting the Air Force to meet the national security demands of today and tomorrow is possible, but it will take forceful leadership at the highest levels of the Department of Defense. Without modernizing our geriatric Air Force and building it to the capacity required by our national defense strategy, the U.S. is a great risk of losing its next major conflict.

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More Issues

Acquisition

Empowering actors at all levels with a smart set of options at the right time and place demands procuring the most effective, efficient, and resilient set of tools.

Airpower

No matter the mission, from air superiority and long range strike to air mobility and command and control, a broad range of missions executed in the air provide vital options at the strategic, operational, and tactical realms.

Budgeting

Resource investment must prioritize investments that will yield best value for the Air Force, Space Force, and national security establishment as a whole.

Nuclear

Strategic deterrence is the bedrock of the national security enterprise thanks to the virtues and value of the triad.

Space

National security space activities are essential facets of any military operation, while also creating conditions essential for the civilian economy.