Air Force Chief Sees Continuing Flat Defense Budgets

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said his service must take a "selective and incremental" approach to modernizing in a world of uncertain future threats and defense budgets that will continue to flatten. He spoke at an Oct. 12 luncheon.

He foresaw stop gaps where necessary and next generation systems where possible. The Air Force, he said, will have to be "flexible across a wide range of contingencies." The Air Force faces a need to reduce overhead by $28 billion as its part in an overall Department of Defense budget reduction.

Efficiencies, he said, must largely come from planes and other systems, personnel, procurement or bases. He said he does not anticipate the number of Air Force personnel changing, and the question of bases is largely off limits at the moment, but it "can't stay that way."

Another source of efficiencies can come from inter-service and interagency cooperation.He cited Air Sea Battle, an Air Force joint operation with the Navy.

Health care costs have become a significant budget consideration for the Air Force, Schwartz said. These costs are now $40 billion a year and will likely be $60 billion to $65 billion by 2015, comprising 12 percent to 14 percent of the Air Force budget. He said it is "inescapable that a change will have to be made." He called the prospect that unbounded health costs could force out military expenditures "worrisome."

The goal, he said, is the Air Force's most fundamental purpose -- control of air and space that puts at risk practically any target on earth.

Schwartz cited Human Rights Watch data to illustrate the precision of Air Force targeting to avoid civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Eighty percent of civilian casualties are not caused by coalition fire, and of the remaining 20 percent, only 40 percent are caused by air to ground fire, according to the data he quoted.

Schwartz favored interaction with Chinese counterparts. He termed a measure allowing China to purchase C-130s a potentially positive outcome assuring military to military relationships. He called interaction the key to preventing potential misunderstandings.

He said corrections have been made to ensure that the Air Force will not lose track of nuclear weapons again. He called the past incident "awful."

Schwartz addressed the emerging areas of cyberspace security and space observation. Rules of engagement and statutory backdrops for cyberspace are not yet developed, he said. Space surveillance is essential to identify the source of threats in order to deter them, he said.

-- Lorna Aldrich, [email protected]