The Air Force is asking for an increase of $1.3 billion to its main operating budget in fiscal 2017, but it doesn't increase end strength, according to budget documents obtained by Air Force Times Tuesday morning.
Top brass has requested $120.4 billion for FY2017, leaving Air Force end strength to about 490,000 airmen; the service will remain the smallest it has been since it was created. However, the service is expected to cut roughly 1,000 positions on the civilian side of the workforce.
The proposed budget calls for a total active-duty end strength of 317,000 next year, the same as in fiscal 2016. Active duty officers would go up slightly, from 61,690 to 62,000. But active-duty enlisted would fall a bit from 251,310 to 251,000. Reservists would fall from about 69,200 to 69,000, while guardsmen would increase from about 105,500 to 105,700, making the total uniformed end strength virtually unchanged.
The flat end strength levels is a marked change from last year's budget proposal, which called for adding about 4,000 new airmen in jobs such as nuclear missiles, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and cyberwarfare. The 2016 growth ended five straight years of painful cuts in end strength and was targeted at helping the Air Force handle its growing missions, such as the war against the Islamic State group, the continuing war in Afghanistan and the need to bolster European allies threatened by a resurgent Russia.
"The world doesn't take a break, and the demand for Air Force capabilities continue to grow," Maj. Gen. James Martin, the Air Force budget director, told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday.
Military pay could also increase a bit, as the Air Force has asked for an additional $700 million in funding for salaries.
But the Air Force sounded the alarm Tuesday about its increasing responsibilities and the budget's inability to keep up.
"Budget uncertainty has complicated our ability to execute this long-term [30-year strategic] plan," the Air Force said on its budget webpage Tuesday. "The Air Force is facing a modernization bow wave in critical nuclear and space programs over the next ten years that, under current funding levels, we simply cannot afford."
"We stand ready to deliver combat capability around the world at a moment's notice," the Air Force said. "However, to remain the world's preeminent air, space and cyberspace power, we need long-term budget stability, flexibility and permanent relief from the Budget Control Act" and its sequestration cuts.
Martin told reporters that the budget constraints are coming as the nation has "one of the smallest, oldest" fleets in Air Force history.
In addition to the main operating budget, the service requested $12.3 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations, and $34.2 billion for the "Non-Blue budget," widely regarded as the place where top secret programs are funded. That brings the total funding request for FY2017 up to $166.9 billion.
The service also expects to end the year with more aircraft. The largest increase will be 43 new F-35 Lightning II, the Air Force's fifth-generation fighter. It's also expected to buy 15 of the new KC-46 Pegasus tankers and 24 MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft.
Yet the levels are unlikely to satisfy military leaders, who have said budget cuts and sequestration are leaving them with fewer planes than what's needed to guarantee the nation's safety.
There are no major air base closures expected in FY2017, documents show.
The budget proposal will undergo many changes before it's made law, as it will have to pass both houses of Congress first.
Air Force Times will be updating budget stories throughout the day, and will continue our budget analysis throughout this week.
Air Force Times' senior reporter Stephen Losey contributed to this report.
