Air Force officials: Service is getting too small, aircraft too old By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, October 25, 2007
WASHINGTON — The secretary of the Air Force and the service’s top officer told Congress they are worried the force is getting too small and its aircraft are getting too old to respond immediately to a new major threat overseas.
“It would be a challenge. We would break all the rules and all the established procedures to be able to deliver whatever
required,” Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
“But the question is the capacity, the sustainability and reliability of some of these older platforms to be able to do that.”
Secretary Michael Wynne reiterated plans to draw down the active-duty force by 5,600 airmen in the coming year, but said the cost-cutting move is hurting the readiness of the force.
“It is an unpleasant reality that at some point we will be too small,” he said. “But budget pressures are forcing us to be a smaller Air Force, whether it starts with equipment or people.”
Wynne estimated the force needs another $20 billion per year to boost its research and production lines to replace the service’s aging aircraft.
Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49761
uhc comment: The F-35 costs $100,000,000 a pop and the F-22 (which is in the shop for repairs) cost $329,000,000 a pop. The C-5 program has > 15% cost overruns.
Your tax dollars at work. 
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