Air Force Seeks Huge Increase In Planes, Personnel
Air Force officials say the service simply lacks the resources it needs to face all the jobs it is called upon to perform. The Air Force is proposing a 25 percent increase in the number of squadrons.
The Air Force must expand its operational squadrons by some 25 percent in the coming years, officials say, to deal with the growing military might of China and Russia and to protect the homeland and continue to fight violent extremists.
"What we know now from analysis, what everyone in this room knows by experience," said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson at a military conference outside Washington on Monday, is that "the Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of us."
Wilson said the says the military must "defend the homeland, provide a credible nuclear deterrent, win against a major power while encountering a rogue nation, all while managing violent extremists."
