Acquisition

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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Policy Paper Release: Decades of Air Force Underfunding Threaten America’s Ability to Win

Watch the Mitchell Institute’s rollout for our newest policy paper: Decades of Air Force Underfunding Threaten America’s Ability to Win by Lt Gen David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.) Dean, and Mark A. Gunzinger, Director of Future Concepts and Capability Assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Joining the discussion is former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Lt Gen Joseph T. Guastella Jr, USAF (Ret.). It’s no secret that America’s Air Force fields the oldest, smallest set of capabilities

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More Issues

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.

Space

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

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.

Strategy

Meeting nationals security requirements today and tomorrow requires insightful, creative approaches that prioritize America’s strengths, while not projecting undue vulnerability.

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.