Tuesday, February 11, 2020

U.S. Air Force's New Budget Signals Major Cuts To B-1s, A-10s, And Global Hawk Drones

Boeing B-1B Lancers shown at the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Training Center Jan. 17, 2019, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. (U.S. Air Force/Greg L. Davis)

Defense News: Air Force makes reductions to B-1s, A-10s, Global Hawk drones and more in FY21 budget request

WASHINGTON — For the past several months, Air Force leaders have hyped the fiscal year 2021 budget as a pivotal one, where the service would be forced to make near-term and possibly contentious sacrifices to its existing posture in order to ramp up investments in technologies needed to counter Russia and China.

But the budget request the Air Force released on Feb. 10 seems a compromise between the service’s more radical force planning organizations in the Pentagon and the combatant commanders around the world, who fought back against making major cuts that could greatly impact readiness.

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More News On The U.S. Air Force's New Budget Signalling Major Cuts To B-1s, A-10s, And Global Hawk Drones

Here Are The Pentagon's "Tough Choice" Cuts To Airpower As Part Of Its 2021 Budget -- Warzone/The Drive
Air Force to Send More than 100 Planes to Boneyard as it Invests in Future Fighters -- Military.com
Bye-Bye to BRRRRT: Air Force Wants to Retire 44 A-10 Warthogs -- Military.com
Budget Cuts 28 Legacy Tankers Despite KC-46 Delays -- Air Force Magazine
Rip B-1 Bomber: The Air Force Wants a Shiny New B-21 Instead -- National Interest
The U.S. Air Force’s Latest Budget Is Shrouded In Secrecy -- Forbes
Department of Air Force releases $169bn budget proposal for 2021 -- Air Force Technology

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They have to make cuts to pay for the space force.

Or they could raise taxes on Bill Gates, Steyer, Bezos and the other freaks.

Bob Huntley said...

,,,

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Barfsack Ocrumbo!


MAGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RussInSoCal said...

I can understand the move to cut the B-1 and even the Global Hawk as the US has a new a bomber coming on line and many other eyes in the sky available. But the A-10 would be a foolish reduction. No other aircraft can do what it does with the same violence and reliability. Definitely not the F-35.

The Pentagon has repeatedly tried to cut the A-10. Then a move is made higher up to save them. The B-1 and the Global Hawk might be done, but the A-10 needs to be continued.

Anonymous said...

A10 is a favorite of many including myself..but. . It would be shot down within a minute against China or Russia. It only works once air supremacy is established and to do that against China and Russia you need 6th gen and within this decade work on 7th gen is starting. A10 is like 3rd gen or so lol

But agreed...it is an awe inspiring plane with many use cases that go beyond and fall between what I've outlined

Anonymous said...

I understand Russ's argument and I see that the Air Force took an opportunity. I was against the Air Force cutting the A-10, but you have consider its logistical tail. A whole bunch of people have to move to different programs or find jobs outside the government. We are not talking just pilots and ground crew. Looking at the support piece of the pie, I think the Air Force has a a good case.

The A-10 is cheap and reliable. You might think state of the art is only what will survive or be useful. They flew biplanes in WW2 (Russian "Night Witches") and the Korean War. They flew props in the Vietnam War North of the DMZ (The North Vietnamese had the best air defenses). They are intending to use props through out the world even today.

Sometimes numbers (hulls, tails, etc) is more important than bleeding edge. Ronson Lighters come to mind.