The Urgent Need for Air and Space Force Modernization: A Priority for the Tump Administration
Airpower and spacepower are the driving forces behind every national security option at the president’s command.
Yet, President Trump has inherited a Department of the Air Force (DAF) with two services in critical condition, though for different reasons.
After decades in decline, the Air Force is now older, smaller, and less ready than it has ever been in its history.
Without immediate action to reverse this course, current plans will continue to shrink the force over the next five years.
Conversely, while President Trump stood up the U.S. Space Force, the service struggles to achieve its missions, impeded by insufficient funding, inadequate numbers of personnel, and resistance to consolidating Department of Defense (DOD) space agencies.
President Trump’s administration must prioritize fixing the Department of the Air Force, as the consequences of keeping the status quo will be disastrous for the nation’s defense.
The priorities of DOD leadership and Congress during the Trump administration must be to rebuild and restore the Air Force to global preeminence.
The same resolve will be required to fully resource the Space Force to achieve space superiority—to grow and catch up with the myriad requirements and expectations on America’s newest military service to ensure overall U.S. military success.
The leadership of the Space Force and the Air Force are doing everything they possibly can to maximize the warfighting capability and capacity of their respective services within the budgets they have been issued.
However, they have come to the point where they simply can no longer meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy without an infusion of additional resources.
The cost of the effort to reverse the Air Force’s decline and adequately fund the Space Force will require an increase of at least $45 billion annually, combined. The fixes must start now, or the United States risks losing the next major war.
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