04/25/2007 - ARLINGTON, Va -- The Air Force Association issued letters today to members of Congress and the Secretary of Defense.

AFA Chairman of the Board Bob Largent, highlighted the association’s concerns about the US military and in particular the US Air Force in separate letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, members of the House and Senate Armed Services, and Appropriations Committees. Those concerns include:

Increasing the replacement rate of weapons systems and retiring older, more costly systems in order to maintain current operations tempo and meet national security commitments as the average age of aircraft is more than 24 years old and in some cases more than 50 years old

Growing the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 personnel will require significant adjustments to Air Force resources to support this increase -- as the Air Force reduces its ranks by 40,000 to maintain current operations with today’s funding levels and continues to provide more than 5,000 Airmen to execute tasks normally performed by Army and Marine Corps personnel on the battlefield

Passing the Defense Supplemental Bill to avoid the potential $1.6B reprogramming request from OSD to shift $800M from both the Air Force and Navy military personnel accounts to the Army operations and maintenance account

Funding all of the Air Force’s unfunded priority list of more than $16B to give the Air Force the ability to sustain current combat capabilities while building toward future defense needs

Additionally, the letters call for increasing the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for national defense -- citing the current commitment of the GDP of 3.8% ranks the United States as 29 among world nations and is the lowest expenditure since the Vietnam War.

AFA recently issued a “Call to Action” on these topics to its members and to Congress. To join AFA’s Call to Action, click here.

The Air Force Association (AFA) is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation. AFA disseminates information through AIR FORCE MAGAZINE, AIR FORCE MAGAZINE ONLINE, the EAKER INSTITUTE, public outreach and national conferences and symposia. Learn more about AFA by visiting us on the web at www.AFA.org.

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