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Air Force has requested $110.1 billion in its USAF-specific baseline budget proposal for Fiscal 2013 and another $14.3 billion in overseas contingency funds, according to service budget officials. When factoring the additional $29.9 billion that falls under Air Force accounts, but supports joint initiatives, such as ISR and special operations, the service’s total Fiscal 2013 spending request amounts to $154.3 billion, they said. That total is $8.2 billion, or five percent, less than the $162.5 billion enacted in Fiscal 2012, they said on Monday in unveiling the spending proposal. “This request reflects difficult decisions required to balance near-term operational readiness with longer term needs,” states the Air Force’s official budget overview document. “The priorities articulated and funded in this budget request achieve the balance required to support the Air Force core functions, force structure, readiness, and modernization that enable us to fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace.” Continue reading the full budget article.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…