Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, discussed the service branch’s budget plans for its top priorities, including its plans for reoptimizing the force in an era of great power competition, at the 15th Annual McAleese Defense Programs Conference.
Kendall was optimistic that Congress would pass the spending plan for the fiscal year 2024 and explained that the budget does not include funding specifically for the Air Force’s reoptimization plans and his service chiefs would have to account for the costs associated with the efforts.
“There will be some costs associated with some of the things we’re going to do. We’re going to take active steps to minimize those costs and the disruption for people, but they’re changes we need, and these changes put us in a much better posture,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, highlighted the need for the service branch to secure sufficient resources to stay ahead of competitors including China and Russia
“Not only have they demonstrated the intent to deny our use of space for peace and defense, but in many instances, they have also proven the capability to do so,” Guetlein said.