‘Expect an Air Force that’s not as ready as it needs to be’ without full budget and reconciliation, leaders warn

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Senior Air Force leaders warned on Monday that they would have to make difficult decisions affecting the readiness of the force if Congress does not pass the proposed defense budget, as well as the reconciliation boost.The Trump administration is pursuing what would amount to a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027, though the base budget request is for $1.15 trillion with a $350 billion infusion in reconciliation, on top of the supplemental request for $87 billion, $67 billion of which is intended for the War Department.Funding for priorities such as a “Golden Dome” missile defense system, munitions, and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group are a part of the reconciliation pot, which makes passing it or reorganizing what’s in the base budget something to watch. “If we don’t get a full $1.5 trillion budget for all of DOW, whether it’s in the base or the reconciliation, the American people should expect an Air Force that’s not as ready as it needs to be, should expect an Air Force that’s not as modern as it should be, and again, it’s not modernizing at a pace as it should be,” Gen. Ken Wilsbach, the Air Force’s chief of staff, told reporters Monday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.“If we don’t get that full budget, we aren’t going to be able to do all of those things that we need to do, and I would just say, look around the world,” he added. “If you think the world is calming down and getting more peaceful, this might be OK. But my assessment of the world is it’s getting more dangerous, more complicated, and especially the Air and Space Force are being asked to do more. That’s why we need the budget.”The $1.5 trillion top line would be the largest defense budget for the United States, though there have been points where the U.S. spent a greater share of its Gross Domestic Product on defense than it would if this budget is passed. Military leaders, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, have stressed that this budget request represents a “generational investment” for the future of the services and is required to enact modernization efforts across the services.Without the budget and reconciliation, the department will be forced to make difficult trade-offs.“If we really want to fund those things, then we have an opportunity to go back to the appropriators before they finalize the bill, at least I think we will … it’s a conversation, obviously,” Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst told Breaking Defense.Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is a Marine veteran and deployed to Iraq, told the Washington Examiner: “Everyday, it’s a balancing act. We have to understand what we’re doing with our money. We also have to understand what it means in terms of, what’s the demand signal we’re sending to the war? What are we investing in? What are we willing to fight for? But we also have to really start reckoning with the fact that we have a massive deficit.”PENTAGON DISPUTES CHARACTERIZATION IT DOWNPLAYED RECENT CASUALTIES IN IRAN WARGen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome program, warned last month that if Congress passes only a continuing resolution instead of both the budget and reconciliation, which would lock in spending levels at last year’s budget, the Golden Dome project could be imperiled.“A CR doesn’t help me at Golden Dome because I don’t have a top line to fall back on,” Guetlein said. “We have to figure out as a nation a different way to fund Golden Dome … Both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate are working on how to do this in [fiscal] ’27.”