‘Costly and strategic blunder’: Retired Air Force generals blast service plan to cut F-35s, scrap ne

[rangerrebew]

‘Costly and strategic blunder’: Retired Air Force generals blast service plan to cut F-35s, scrap new surveillance plane
By COREY DICKSTEIN STARS AND STRIPES •
July 10, 2025

 Deep cuts to the Air Force’s F-35 program and the elimination of the E-7 Wedgetail program would prove a “costly and strategic blunder” for the service, a retired three-star general said Thursday. Retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula told reporters that the proposed cuts to the programs in the Air Force’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal unveiled last month would leave the service with problematic capability gaps given an uncertain security environment around the world.

The latest budget proposal, Deptula said, would cut some 340 aircraft from the service while purchasing only 76 new airframes, including only 24 F-35As — the most advanced fighter aircraft now flying. “The Air Force today is the oldest, the smallest and the least ready it’s ever been in its entire history,” Deptula said during a news briefing organized by the Air and Space Forces Association. “And the current programming schedule, it has [the Air Force fleet] getting even smaller as we move into the next five years, and quite frankly, there’s insufficient funding in the budget to stop that decline. That’s why raising this to the attention of Congress and the American public is so important.”

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2025-07-10/retired-air-force-generals-f35-budget-18401432.html
Source - Stars and Stripes

[rangerrebew]

There has been talk of trashing the F-35 for some time, but the Wedgetail is newer.  Unless the AF makes these kinds of decisions impulsively like someone with ADHD, they have been under consideration for probably a year or more.  So, why is it these Generals waited until Trump was POTUS to express their displeasure and not while Biden was in office?

[DefiantMassRINO]

Does Retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula have conflicts of interest?

He's not employed by Defense Contractors, but he is the Dean of Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies (https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/) which is funded by Defense Contractors (https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/our-supporters/).