The Air Force has asked for $50 billion in emergency funding for Fiscal 2008, service spokeswoman Capt. Anna Carpenter confirmed Wednesday when questioned by the Daily Report. The huge request follows on the heels of an Oct. 25 directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England that instructs the services to include the entire “long war” on terror not just current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq when formulating emergency funding requests. Carpenter would not discuss details of the 2008 request or an under-review additional request—beyond the $17 billion already submitted—for Fiscal 2007. Congress likely will take a dim view of the new instruction, since it already has signaled its displeasure of the Administration’s practice of funding the war on terror through emergency supplementals rather than within the primary defense budget.
A new Space Force partnership with Blue Origin to expand payload processing capacity at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., will allow the launch range to support as many as 16 more missions per year.
