By Marina Malenic
The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have each submitted a list of unfunded requirements to Congress totaling more than $1 billion, with $124 million of that number coming from the Air Force.
The Air Force’s list is relatively small this year, dwarfing the multibillion-dollar wish lists of the past several years.
“At a time of constrained resources, my primary request is that the Committee supports the President’s Budget,” Gen. Norton Schwartz, chief of staff of the Air Force, wrote in an April 29 letter to the four committees.
The Air Force is requesting money for three groups of items–$42.5 million for the A-10 Maintenance Tester, $33.7 million for the EC-130H Avionics upgrade, and $47.5 million to replace munitions used during operations in Libya, should funds become available to do so.
“Both the A-10 Maintenance Tester and the EC-130H Avionics Upgrade improve our readiness posture and operational capabilities by resolving issues that could require grounding aircraft,” Schwartz writes.
Further, the Air Force is requesting $26 million for Joint Direct Attack Munitions, $11 million for Anti-Missile Countermeasure Decoy Systems, $6 million for Air to Ground Missiles and $5 million for laser-guided weapons to replace those used in Operation Odyssey Dawn through April 8, according to the letter.
The air service is also working on a cost estimate for recent storm damage to aircraft and installations in the southeastern United States. According to the general’s letter, the current estimate is $60 million. He wrote that the Air Force will work to include those costs in the Fiscal 2011 omnibus spending bill.