The F-22 Raptor, built by Lockheed Martin. (Lockheed Martin)
WASHINGTON — The Air Force will see only a 1.8 percent increase in spending in the proposed 2010 defense budget, which would mean building fewer planes and speeding up the retirement of others, and no increase in flight hours.
Service officials on Thursday spun the slim budget as an opportunity to reprioritize the force, shifting more resources to counterinsurgency work and nuclear security missions.
But Maj. Gen. Larry Spencer, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for the budget, acknowledged that the plan has "not a lot of new funding, but lots of rebalancing."
Most of the increases in the budget plan are slated for personnel and operations costs, with $2.2 billion in new spending in pay and benefits for servicemembers and Air Force civilians.
Missile procurement is up, too, although the total number of munitions purchased will drop slightly and the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile program zeroed out in fiscal 2010.
The budget also includes a $1.1 billion cut in aircraft procurement and will buy only 81 aircraft next year, 37 fewer than fiscal 2009.
Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans to end production of the F-22 Raptor, so four of the planes funded through the latest war supplemental will be the last ones built by the service, Spencer said.
Pentagon officials have touted the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program as the replacement for the Raptor, but the Air Force's original plan to build 13 JSFs next year also was trimmed. Spencer said only 10 of those will be bought next year, with those aircraft being used for training missions.
The service also plans to retire 250 older aircraft — F-15s, F-16s and A-10s — in another restructuring/cost-saving move.
Spencer said that will result in about 4,000 airmen being moved to new jobs, largely dealing with unmanned aircraft crews or nuclear maintenance and security. About 2,500 new positions dealing with the service's nuclear mission will be created under the plan.
The retirement of the older aircraft will also mean a loss of about 32,000 flight hours, although Spencer said total flight time for the force will remain around 1.4 million hours for 2010.
The budget will include 24 new unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aircraft, eight new C-27 Joint Cargo Aircraft, 12 new C-130s and five new CV-22B Ospreys.
About $1.7 billion will be spent on bomber and fighter modernization programs, with new flight software for F-16s and A-10s and new radar and avionics equipment for the B-1, B-2 and B-52.
The Air Force has saved about $900 million in fuel expenses this fiscal year; planners had anticipated $115 per barrel of crude, but have averaged closer to $87. Next year, Spencer said, officials have budgeted for $89 per barrel, and expect fuel costs to remain flat.
Spencer said despite DOD-wide reductions in recruiting and retention bonuses, the Air Force still plans to spend about $640 million in specialty pays for critical wartime skills: explosive ordinance disposal, tactical air control party, and medics, among others.
The F-22 Raptor, built by Lockheed Martin. (Lockheed Martin)
A maintenance airman inspects an MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan. Capable of striking enemy targets with on-board weapons, the Reaper has conducted close air support and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The 2010 Air Force budget proposal includes 24 new unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aircraft. (Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)
