The Air Force may get a smaller budget in the future if Rep. Jim Cooper (D) of Tennessee gets his way and the Army and Marines may walk away with the lion's share of the military budget.
For decades the Army, Air Force and Navy have split the military budget almost into thirds.
The fiscal 2009 budget request released this month, for example, shows the Army requesting a 27 percent share, the Air Force asking for a 28 percent share, and the Navy, which includes the Marine Corps, wanting a 29 percent share of the proposed $515 billion budget..."After seven years of war, that we haven't budged one inch away from the cold war apportionment of the budget to me is Kafka-esque," said Robert Scales Jr..
In a twisted way, Barack Obama could aid the Air Force in the worst of ways. By pulling out of Iraq, which he can't or won't do, but if he did, the load would be lightened on the Army and Marines. This could allow the nation to once again look at the full spectrum of warfare beyond just counter insurgency.
The F-22 line is closing. And unless the Air Force gets the money to buy more or the US decides to sell some to Japan, the line will close and seal the coffin of future F-22s. What the Air Force can do is press for more tankers and transports. Those items are getting play in GWOT and the Air Force should exploit the war for what it can. Also in the news is cyberwarfare, so the Air Force should be able to press for money for the new Cyber Command. The time to press for the F-22 was after the Gulf War, but the peace dividend kicked in and then the military suffered through the "more with less" Clinton years.
This isn't the last nail in the coffin for manned fighters, but is isn't the first either.
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