"Overall, a long term CR [Continuing Resolution budget measure] would fund the Air Force at about USD 1.3 billion less than the amount we requested in FY 2017 and cause many [problems] in our system," stated Deborah Lee James told reporters in August.
She listed updates to legacy programs, including the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, B-2 Spirit bomber fleets and the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial system, as suffering funding shortfalls under a CR.
James cautioned that new programs would be impacted as well. For instance, if expenditures for the B-21 program are capped, it would risk not being fielded in the 2020s as originally planned. The Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tanker also risks missing its field deadline if funding is capped, forcing the USAF to break its contract altogether.
She also noted that a CR would compel the service to cut production to the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which the US and its allies both use heavily in the fight against Daesh. "We feel that is unacceptable, particularly in light of current operation against [Daesh] and other extremists around the world," she said.
