Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, a senior Air Force budget official, says that the Air Force was forced to levy the upcoming 40,000-person drawdown to pay to modernize weapon systems as DOD’s budget flattens. Faykes laid blame for Fiscal 2007 budget pressures on the deficit, the rising cost of entitlements, and the migration [of funds] to domestic accounts. He said that DOD took $4 billion from the Air Force to pay for non-defense items. Currently, Faykes said, the “big pain” is the soaring cost of fuel in the operations and maintenance account. USAF added $1.1 billion just to pay for aviation jet fuel in 2007.
A Defense Department team is on the ground in Ukraine assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops gather on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance can be…