Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scratching their heads over the Air Force’s 2007 unfunded priority list which includes a request for seven additional C-17 airlifters. At a Wednesday House hearing on the budget, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, attempted to answer why the service has added seven C-17s to its requirements, making a total of 187, when the 2007 budget shows the production line stopping at 180—a number they maintained would be sufficient. The answer, stated Moseley, is that the “wartime utilization rates” were “unforeseen.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.