WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Presenting a unified front, the highest-ranking civilian and military leaders of the Air Force and Space Force told a Senate subcommittee June 9 that the historic boost in spending for the department is necessary to defend the nation and that mechanisms are already in place to spend the funds wisely and to maximum effect.
“For the past 25 years, the Department of the Air Force's budget has been the smallest relative to GDP in its history,” the department’s secretary, Troy Meink, told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
“At the same time, the nation has asked more of it. To meet its mission needs, the DAF was forced to shortchange both foundational readiness and much-needed modernization. The fiscal 2027 President’s Budget breaks that pattern with a $338.8 billion request for the DAF, a 34% increase from last year,” Meink said.
Meink was joined at the hearing by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach and Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. The hearing was one of the first steps in the process of approving the department’s spending plan before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Broken apart, the proposal Congress is now considering stipulates $267.7 billion for the Air Force and $71.1 billion for the Space Force. Meink, Wilsbach and Saltzman said the funding is focused in broad strokes on sharpening readiness, continuing to modernize weapon systems, upgrading living conditions for personnel, and underwriting deterrence.
The budget request for the Air Force, Wilsbach said, “prioritizes restoring depth to our force by increasing funding for flying hours, munitions, maintenance, and advanced training that reflects the realities of today and tomorrow’s fight.”
He said the funding will also be used to continue developing the newest fighter, the F-47, and a collection of semiautonomous aircraft known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft, “while also investing in long-range strike, advanced munitions, and resilient command and control.”
Wilsbach also highlighted the continuing effort to modernize the nuclear deterrent through the B-21 Raider bomber program, upgrading the ageless B-52 Stratofortress, and the Sentinel land-based nuclear missile.
“Weapons system sustainment funding increased to over $22 billion and flying hours to nearly $10 billion. We are focused on readiness that continues to remain credible and can deliver effects,” Wilsbach told senators, while adding a caveat. “Modernization is not only about replacing old platforms with new ones but evolving how we fight. Speed, survivability, and decision advantage will define future conflict. It requires a force that is more connected and adaptable.”
In his remarks to the Senate panel, Saltzman re-emphasized a common refrain: that space has become a central and indispensable part of commerce, everyday life and, most critically, the nation’s defense.
“Our adversaries are constantly working to take away our military and economic advantages in the space domain. To defend our nation’s interests in space, the Space Force must do more than grow, we must evolve to meet the challenges of this new era,” Saltzman said.
The speed of change and the importance of space are unchanging realities, Saltzman said in explaining why the 130% increase in the Space Force’s proposed budget is necessary.
“The Space Force we have today is not the Space Force we will need in the future,” he said.
“Increases in the service’s budget and end strength are a national security imperative. That is why the FY27 budget boosts our topline by 130% and our end strength by 27%,” he said.
The surge in spending “will allow the Space Force to recruit and train the Guardians we need … build vital space capabilities for the joint force and the nation … and provide the support and infrastructure that mission growth demands,” he said.
By Senate standards, the hearing moved along at a brisk pace, ending in 90 minutes. Among the topics raised by senators were multiple questions about drones and base protection and how Ukraine’s expertise can be used to better defend against those threats.
Meink told senators the department is already studying the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. Other questions touched on tankers and the expected delivery rate for the new KC-46 tanker, as well as how CCAs will be delivered and used. Senators asked about the reliability and readiness of the F-35, a plane Wilsbach said is performing well in the Iran conflict. Several senators expressed concern about Congress failing to produce and pass a spending plan and having to rely once again on a continuing resolution that reverts spending to current levels.
Meink said being forced to operate under a CR “would have significant impacts on readiness,” operations and necessary modernization.
All three leaders highlighted a critical, but often less glamorous, focus on acquisition reform to ensure every dollar is spent wisely and with speed.
In that regard, Meink, Wilsbach and Saltzman each mentioned giving more authority to portfolio acquisition executives to make decisions and act more independently so projects move with less bureaucratic weight and more speed.
“We are empowering our new portfolio acquisition executives, and their teams, with the authorities, resources, and talent they need to accelerate capability delivery,” Meink said. “We have delegated nearly every authority we are legally allowed to do so down to the PAEs. We are re-aligning portfolios to match mission outcomes. Our end state is all DAF acquisitions aligned within the PAE structure to ensure consistent, simplified, and rapid decision-making across the Space Force and Air Force.”
For the Space Force, Saltzman emphasized that the 6-year-old service continues “creating some of these innovative capabilities for new missions from the ground up.”
That effort includes “investing in all categories of counterspace systems necessary to deter and defeat aggression in space.
“Additionally, we are aggressively pursuing more resilient space architectures that can withstand attacks and continue to operate through extended conflict,” he said, describing the budget request as “a generational opportunity to position the force to meet the rapidly expanding threats and demands of the nation.”
Saltzman also signaled that the near term is a pivot point for the country’s newest military service. “The Space Force has laid the organizational foundation, defined the compounding threat, and delivered the blueprint required to counter it.
“Now,” he told senators, “we must build those structures and systems to ensure domain superiority for years to come.”