Post by torpedo on Nov 7, 2019 22:37:51 GMT
Goldfein Previews Air Force 2021 Budget Request
Gen. Dave Goldfein, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, put some more meat on the bones about his signature plan to better connect forces on the battlefield. An internal review, called "night court" or the "zero-based review," has identified "about $30 billion" over the next five years that the Air Force plans to shift to higher-priority initiatives, Goldfein said Wednesday at an Air Force Association breakfast on Capitol Hill.
"We took a look at every legacy program that we have and asked the question: Does this contribute significantly in a 2030 to 2038 fight," he said. "If the answer to that was now, we looked at can we accelerate its retirement in order to free the money up to buy the digital architecture and the capability that we need going forward."
Goldfein singled out four priority areas in the 2021 budget proposal (which is typically sent to Congress in February) and how that $30 billion will be shifted between 2021 and 2025:
$9 billion to "digital architecture [and] cloud architecture that we need to be able to not only connect the Air Force, but to connect the joint force."
Another $9 billion to "defensive and offensive space capabilities." Much of those efforts will be classified, Goldfein said. The general pledged to provide regular briefing to lawmakers and their staffs about those efforts.
The third focus area is "generating combat power," but the general did not identify specific funding level.
About $3 billion will be spent to figure out how to move troops and equipment in new ways. "We are no longer assuming that will have unfettered access to logistics in the future," he said.
Gen. Dave Goldfein, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, put some more meat on the bones about his signature plan to better connect forces on the battlefield. An internal review, called "night court" or the "zero-based review," has identified "about $30 billion" over the next five years that the Air Force plans to shift to higher-priority initiatives, Goldfein said Wednesday at an Air Force Association breakfast on Capitol Hill.
"We took a look at every legacy program that we have and asked the question: Does this contribute significantly in a 2030 to 2038 fight," he said. "If the answer to that was now, we looked at can we accelerate its retirement in order to free the money up to buy the digital architecture and the capability that we need going forward."
Goldfein singled out four priority areas in the 2021 budget proposal (which is typically sent to Congress in February) and how that $30 billion will be shifted between 2021 and 2025:
$9 billion to "digital architecture [and] cloud architecture that we need to be able to not only connect the Air Force, but to connect the joint force."
Another $9 billion to "defensive and offensive space capabilities." Much of those efforts will be classified, Goldfein said. The general pledged to provide regular briefing to lawmakers and their staffs about those efforts.
The third focus area is "generating combat power," but the general did not identify specific funding level.
About $3 billion will be spent to figure out how to move troops and equipment in new ways. "We are no longer assuming that will have unfettered access to logistics in the future," he said.
