The Straight Skinny:

The Air Force has provided additional information about its extraordinary $50 billion supplemental request. Air Force spokesperson Maj. Morshe Araujo, says that the service submitted to OSD in August a Fiscal 2007 supplemental request for $17.4 billion. After that, as we reported yesterday, came the Oct. 25 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England directing the services to reconsider and submit both 2007 and 2008 supplementals with a view toward the “longer war on terror” not just operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Araujo told the Daily Report that she could not go into detail about the actual use of these funds, since “the process is not complete,” she noted, “The Air Force submission included $50 billion in requirements needed to address a widening gap between Air Force capabilities and current funding.” She added, “These requirements include reset, recapitalization, and readiness requirements.”