Days from Retirement, Hinote Warns That Air Force Modernization ‘Could Come Off the Rails’
April 26, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak
Until the Air Force can make the changes it wants in the fiscal 2024 budget and beyond, it isn’t a force “that wins,” Air Force Futures director Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote warned the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee—and without action, the service’s hoped-for transformation could “fall off the rails.”
Hinote, presenting his final testimony in Congress before capping a 35-year career, said the Air Force is at an inflection point and must break from prioritizing “fight tonight” forces to invest in future capabilities. Until that happens, USAF risks losing a peer fight, he said.
In the April 26 hearing, Hinote said he feels a “sense of urgency to push the changes that we need.”
“For too long, we have privileged current risk at the expense of future risk,” Hinote said, adding that too often that future risk is treated as theoretical, rather than a hard-nosed appraisal of the threat.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/retirement-hinote-air-force-modernization/
