Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein told a Capitol Hill audience in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2019, that unpredictable funding has both short-term and long-term effects, complicating readiness, training, planning and other activities necessary to meet missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chad B. Trujillo)Goldfein outlines the risks of budget uncertainties
                        
                        
                        Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein told a Capitol Hill audience in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2019, that unpredictable funding has both short-term and long-term effects, complicating readiness, training, planning and other activities necessary to meet missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chad B. Trujillo)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Goldfein outlines risks of budget uncertaintiesPublished Nov. 7, 2019
                    
                    By Charles Pope
                    
                    
                    Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
            **WASHINGTON (AFNS) --**Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein warned Nov. 6 that budget uncertainties could affect dozens of programs ranging from F-35 Lighting II upgrades to those addressing the pilot shortage, while also complicating longer-range efforts to reshape the force to meet future threats.
“It’s truly damaging for all the services and certainly the United States Air Force,” Goldfein told an audience of industry officials, congressional staffers, media and others during the event on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Air Force Association.
Funding for the entire U.S. government expires Nov. 22 at 12:01 a.m. unless Congress acts. While progress on forging a budget agreement has been slow, congressional aides say there is movement toward approving a short-term spending plan that keeps the government running into December.
That short-term budget, called a continuing resolution, or CR, would provide time for Congress to complete work on a traditional budget for the fiscal year and adjust spending to address new priorities and needs. If that outcome is not possible, Congress is expected to adopt another CR that would likely stretch for either six months or through Sept. 30, 2020, when the fiscal year ends.
Using CRs is not optimal, Goldfein said, since any of those would likely continue funding levels from the previous year without updating the spending plan to account for new priorities, realities and needs.
According to an Air Force budget assessment provided by Goldfein, a six-month CR would postpone development and production of the F-15EX, prevent the Air Force from purchasing tail kits for 1,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs, 99 AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and delay upgrades to the wings of the F-35 that would improve readiness for 31% of the fleet.
If the CR extends for the year, it would also interrupt funding to help Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska, recover from natural disasters.
It also could trim $123 million from undergraduate flight training that could affect efforts to rectify the Air Force pilot shortage, among other impacts.
Goldfein said budget turbulence would ripple beyond the Air Force itself. Industry partners would feel the consequences as well.
Without predictable funding, he said, “I have to go to a CEO ... and say, ‘I don’t know exactly how many weapons I’m going to buy from you this year. ... So I want you to keep this very sophisticated workforce with a high-level security clearance occupied because eventually I may get the money.’
“Then we finally get the money,” Goldfein continued. “I go back to them and say, ‘let’s pull the trigger; let’s go.’ He says, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve already had to repurpose that workforce. I can surge now, but it will cost you this amount.’”
Longer-term planning must account for spending uncertainties as well, he said. The top priority is transforming the Air Force to a digital, highly networked force that links “sensors with shooters” assisted by artificial intelligence, machine learning and seamless interoperability with air, land, sea, cyber and space systems.
The challenge, he said, is making progress on this effort while funding is present to ensure the Air Force can confront and, if necessary, defeat Russia and China. Air Force budget analysts say that window could close in two years or less.
“We believe (fiscal year) 2021 is potentially the last good year, and our focus is on setting the foundation for the Air Force we know we need with the technology and people we need to win when the nation calls upon us to do it,” he said.
One major element of meeting that goal demands an increase to 386 operational squadrons, he said, a figure derived from rigorous analysis and sophisticated war games.
“That was not a gold-plated figure,” Goldfein said. “Think about it; when we kicked Iraq out of Kuwait, a non-nuclear middleweight power, we had 412 operational squadrons. We’re saying we need 386 (squadrons) to defeat a nuclear peer. It’s not a gold-plated number. So we’re not going to back off what we require capacity-wise.”AFWN 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



Air Force Association 



AFA 



Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein 



budget 



programs 



projects 



Congress 



continuing resolution 



CR 



Air Force budget assessment 



fiscal year 



squadrons 



capitol hill 



spending plan 



government shutdown 



F-15EX 



tail kits 



joint Direct Attack Munition bombs 



Sidewinder air-to-air missiles 



F-35 Lightning II 



pilot shortage 



spending uncertainties 



Tyndall Air Force Base 



Offutt Air Force Base Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil