MARCH 13, 2025 – Senior uniformed officers from the Air Force and Space Force told a Senate subcommittee March 12 that each service is focused on readiness but that budget shortfalls and determined adversaries are continuing sources for concern.
“I can confidently state that your United States Air Force stands ready and able to defend America’s homeland, ensure a robust nuclear deterrent via our two legs of the Triad, and project power around the world to provide options to deter and win as the nation requires,” U.S. Air Force Deputy Chief for Operations Lt. Gen. Adrian Spain told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support.
Spain quickly added, however, the same worrisome nuance that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin has repeatedly voiced in recent months.
“Today’s Airmen will do so with the oldest airplanes, the smallest force and with fewer monthly flying hours than at any point in our history,” Spain said. “Airmen have, and always will, get the job done, but today they do so at elevated risk.
The Space Force is only five years old and has been “purpose built” to protect the nation’s interests in, from and to space. It is “accelerating our transformation as a warfighting service,” said U.S. Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein.
He noted to the Senate panel more is needed. He said the Space Force “is woefully under-resourced” to meet the nation’s demand for space capabilities.
“We must increase investment to deter the threat and, if necessary, decisively defeat challenges to U.S. space superiority. The strategic choices we make today will determine whether space remains a domain for peace and progress or becomes a contested battleground for future conflict,” he added.
While Guardians are performing well, the importance of space and its rapidly changing circumstances require the Space Force and the nation to innovate and adapt faster to maintain a strategic advantage.
“As access to, and use of, space grows, the strategic landscape in space is becoming increasingly complex and perilous,” Guetlein said.
More resources will be necessary to achieve space superiority.
“What were once theoretical threats are now daily occurrences. I have observed our adversaries’ actions, and they are employing new capabilities to counter our advantage,” Guetlein said. “Our competitors are jamming GPS signals, spoofing and disrupting satellite communications, and developing advanced anti-satellite weapons. Unfortunately, these behaviors have become the norm rather than the exception, creating an increasingly hostile environment and putting at risk our continued freedom in the space domain.”
Guetlein and Spain were joined at the hearing by counterparts from the Army, Gen. James J. Mingus, Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney of the Marines, Navy Adm. James W. Kilby, as well as Diana C. Maurer from the Government Accountability Office.
While the hearing was called to discuss readiness, subjects raised during the two-hour session ranged widely, from the impact of extending the current budget to the end of the fiscal year rather than writing a new budget, to the status of recruiting to questions about the Golden Dome for America initiative.
On the prospect of living with an extension of the budget from the last fiscal year, which is known as a continuing resolution or CR, Spain and Guetlein echoed the impacts voiced by other witnesses. While funding is provided under a CR that prevents a government shutdown, it also restricts how the funds can be used. It is limited, for example, only to existing programs so money for “new starts” that brings new technology and modernization is not allowed.
A CR also does not factor in inflation so “buying power” is reduced. For the Air Force, Spain told the committee the financial hit was “close to $14 billion, which we cannot afford.”
Guetlein said the Space Force is affected too.
“It does impact us because we are the smallest force with the smallest budget. So, any churn in our budget is a huge hit to us,” Guetlein said.
With the technologies in space shifting so fast, the ban on “new starts” is a major concern, he said.
“We are seeing an enormous amount of threats emerging every single year and it is very hard to get after those threats when you have to wait two to four years to get the budget,” Guetlein said. “We need budget flexibility for new start authority, (and) the ability to move money between programs would be hugely beneficial.”
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs