The Air Force has programmed a plus-up of about $5.6 billion for its nuclear enterprise over the Future Years’ Defense Program, but an active Budget Control Act could force the service to cut that number down to about $4 billion, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said yesterday. “We would lose between $1 and $2 billion if sequestration were to kick in,” James said during the Nuclear Policy Conference of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “What we think would happen is some modernization, particularly of the weapon systems…that we want to do, that we have planned to do over the next five years, not all of that could go forth.” James said the service has enjoyed modernization support from the Congressional Armed Services committees, but added that other Congress Members either don’t understand defense issues as in depth or are addressing an array of issues beyond national security.
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