Aging aircraft, war costs weigh heavily in future budgets.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: AIR FORCE

THE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS Committee staffer acknowledged the conundrum the Air Force is facing.

His boss, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, "would like to see new platforms being brought on, and one way to bring on new platforms is being able to retire old platforms," said Mark Haaland, who spoke on the sidelines of the Strategic Space and Defense conference in Omaha, Neb.

As for fellow members of Congress who want to protect the jobs that accompany legacy systems, such as the B-52 Stratofortress, Stevens "is very respectful of other members of his committee," he added.

So will it be business as usual as the 2008 budget process gets underway?

"That's my guess," Haaland said.

Such predictions are not what Air Force budget officials want to hear. The service last year announced that it would cut 40,000 personnel, plus an additional 2,000 civilian jobs. It is also determined to recapitalize its aging aircraft fleet and maintain its technological edge. Meanwhile, requests to retire nearly 1,000 older aircraft have gone nowhere in Congress.

Something has to give.

Maj. Gen. Frank R. Faykes, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget, said the service's personnel costs have increased 51 percent during the past 10 years. Higher pay and added benefits have helped the Air Force close the so-called pay gap between itself and the private sector. "All those things are good, but all those things have put pressures on the budget by driving our personnel costs up," Faykes said at an Air Force Association conference in Washington. Skyrocketing medical costs have added to the personnel budget woes, he added.

And while fuel costs have decreased as of late, every $10 raise in the price of a barrel of oil costs the Air Force $600 million. The base realignment and closure (BRAC) process was expected to save the service $2.6 billion in 2008, Faykes said. But congressional actions that prevent the Air Force from closing as many installations at it wanted mean additional BRAC expenses of $1.8 billion in fiscal 2008.

A $2.1 billion reduction in the operations and maintenance account will average out to a $25 million cut to each Air Force base, he added.

And while supplementals to the budget to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are continuing, any movement to cut them off would be a disaster at this point, Faykes added.

"That's a nonstarter ... You won't be able to fight the war," he said.

Faykes said the Air Force is determined to continue to retire old aircraft. "We've got to push hard to retire all those weapon systems in the next couple years. The ones we're unable to do this year, we'll try again next year."

Haaland said, "It's really up to the Defense Department continue to explain the rationale for what they need to do and seek Congress' support."

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group, said at the end of the day, the two sides are both getting what they want. Lawmakers are preserving the aircraft that translate into jobs in their...