AF seeks $18B more, but Congress wary

[unhappycamper]

AF seeks $18B more, but Congress wary
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, February 29, 2008

WASHINGTON — Air Force officials believe they need $18 billion beyond their base budget next year to pay for critical programs, but members of Congress are concerned about the already hefty military price tag planned for coming years.

The fiscal 2009 budget proposal for the Air Force already tops $117 billion, a 7.9 percent increase from fiscal 2008. Earlier this month, Pentagon planners unveiled a $515 billion Defense budget for fiscal 2009, the highest since the end of World War II when adjusted for inflation.

That doesn’t include funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will be handled in later supplemental budget requests. And those funds don’t include nearly $30 billion in unfunded priorities detailed by each of the services to Congress last week.

Most of the Army and Marine Corps requests, totaling almost $7 billion, focus on reset and replacement of equipment used in combat operations overseas.

But the Air Force’s list includes more than 160 new aircraft, acceleration research and development schedules on several planes, and billions in upgrades to existing equipment — all projects service officials say are long overdue for their aging fleet.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52927



uhc comment: This headline is better than the one in today's Air Force Times --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x12170