Air Force Academy expects 12 percent budget cut

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<p>The Denver Post</p>

<p>DENVER—The Air Force Academy expects a budget cut of about $41 million, or 12.2, percent for the current fiscal year as the government tries to rein in spending, but school officials say overall academics won’t suffer.</p>

<p>West Point expects a much smaller cut, but accurate comparisons are difficult because of differences in the way each school’s budget is compiled.</p>

<p>Naval Academy officials declined to release budget projections but said they don’t expect a big difference from last year.</p>

<p>Congress hasn’t passed a defense appropriations bill for the current fiscal year, which started in October, so administrators at the service academies don’t know what their exact budget number will be. Like other agencies whose appropriations haven’t been approved, the academies operate under temporary spending authorization from Congress called a continuing resolution.</p>

<p>Jennifer Talhelm, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said this week it’s unclear when a defense appropriations bill might pass or whether another continuing resolution will be required. Udall is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.</p>

<p>Air Force officials in Washington have told commanders at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to expect a starting figure of $294 million for the current fiscal year, said Lt. Col. Burke Beaumont, the academy’s finance director.</p>

<p>The previous fiscal year starting figure was $335 million but rose to $370 million by the end of the year as the school got additional money from the Defense Department or Congress for specific programs.</p>

<p>The current year’s budget could also grow for the same reason, Burke said.</p>

<p>The cuts could come in travel, deferred maintenance and other areas, he said.</p>

<p>West Point, officially the U.S. Military Academy, in West Point, N.Y., expects $134.8 million as a starting figure for the current fiscal year, school spokesman Francis J. DeMaro Jr. said. That’s down $6 million, or 4.3 percent, from the previous year.</p>

<p>Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said the school’s budget for the previous fiscal year was $138 million. He said the school doesn’t expect a substantial difference in this year’s budget.</p>

<p>Officials at the academies say budget comparisons are difficult because of differences in the schools as well as in their parent services’ budgeting processes and categories.</p>

<p>For example, the Air Force Academy faces higher road maintenance costs because its campus is so big—18,000 acres, or 28 square miles—and the weather can be harsh at that elevation, which ranges from 6,200 to 9,000 feet above sea level.</p>

<p>The Air Force and Naval academies compile the cost per graduate, using similar spending categories covering four years of a cadet’s education. The most recent figures put the Air Force at $417,000 per graduate and the Navy at $379,000. West Point said the “scholarship value” of an education there is about $205,000, but it wasn’t immediately clear how that figure was compiled and how it differed from the other schools.</p>

[Gasdoc]

<p>2/17/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) – Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz provided details on the service’s fiscal 2012 national defense authorization budget request during a House Armed Services Committee hearing here Feb. 17.</p>

<p>Air Force officials are requesting $150 billion in the baseline budget and $16 billion in an overseas contingency operations supplemental appropriation, Secretary Donley said.</p>

<p>“Our budget request represents a careful balance of resources among the Air Force core functions necessary to implement the president’s National Security Strategy and between today’s operations and investment for the future,” the secretary said.</p>

<p>General Schwartz said that the Air Force’s FY12 budget request is sensitive to the current state of the economy.</p>

<p>“This budget request, fully appreciating the extraordinary fiscal condition that our nation faces, supports our Airmen and our continuing efforts to structure the force for maximum versatility across the full spectrum of operations for today’s requirements and for tomorrow’s challenges,” the general said.</p>

<p>General Schwartz also said that despite development issues, the joint strike fighter remained a priority for the service, as does the procurement of a new tanker for the Air Force.</p>

<p>Another upcoming procurement for the Air Force that was discussed was the new long-range bomber, set to be part of a family of systems. Secretary Donley said the Air Force expects to field the new aircraft in the mid-2020s.</p>

<p>In addition to discussing the next fiscal year’s budget request, both leaders also emphasized the importance of passing the current fiscal year’s budget, telling members of Congress that operating under an extended continuing resolution will stress the force.</p>

<p>“A decision to extend the continuing resolution at FY10 levels through the remainder of this year will delay our ability to reach the secretary of Defense’s direct goal of 65 MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper Combat Air Patrols by 2013 in support of operations in Afghanistan,” Secretary Donley said.</p>

<p>The secretary added that a continuing resolution would cause a production break and a likely increase in the unit cost of the wideband global communications satellite, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, F-15 Eagle radar modernization and other programs.</p>

<p>General Schwartz similarly urged the committee members to pass the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill.</p>

<p>“In extending far beyond March 4 without a 2011 appropriations bill, we have to reduce flying hours, delay or cancel some weapon system sustainment and depot maintenance activity and disrupt other day-to-day operations, all of which will adversely affect readiness and impact our brave men and women who are preparing to serve or are serving in harm’s way,” the general said.</p>