U.S. To Fly Grounded Jets, Training Budget Under Constraint

The U.S. Air Force yesterday announced their plans to fly the grounded squadrons (since April), from combat units to the “famous” Thunderbirds, after it received the required funding. 

The Congress has given the service permission to move some $423 million from other programs into the training budget, enough to keep planes flying until October 1st, until the next fiscal year.

However for this short-term fix, the U.S. Air Force had to cut back on long-term investments which include almost $20 million in new missiles, $50 million in new C-130 transports, and about $70 million in upgrades for existing aircraft, from B-1B bombers to F-15 fighters, according to BreakingDefense report.

“Sequestration” is the term of art for the cuts imposed on federal spending by the Budget Control Act of 2011, with half the bill — $500 billion over 10 years — falling on the Department of Defense. But argue is weather to allot more money on the training, since the budget cut here can prove to be dangerous.

Yet budget shortfalls have forced the U.S. military to cut back training across the board. The U.S. Army, for instance, has cancelled major training exercises for 78 percent of its combat brigades, basically everyone not heading to Afghanistan. The U.S. Navy even “delayed” the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Truman and its escorts to the Persian Gulf.