Insidious Decline!

For decades, the F/A-18 Hornet has been the Navy’s front-line combat jet – taking off from aircraft carriers around the globe to enforce no-fly zones, carry out strikes and even engage in the occasional dogfight.

But the Navy’s ability to use these planes is now greatly hindered as more than 60 percent of the jets are out of service. That number is even worse for the Marine Corps, where 74 percent of its F-18s – some of the oldest in service – are not ready for combat operations.

These figures are reflective of the erosion in readiness across all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and a source of deepening concern for ranking military members and lawmakers in both houses of Congress. Top service branch officials sounded the alarm in a pair of congressional hearings this week about how bad the problem has become.

“Our long-term readiness continues its insidious decline,” Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran testified Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He added, “While we are still able to put our first team on the field, our bench is largely depleted.”

During the hearing – and one on Tuesday before the House Armed Service Committee – the vice chiefs pleaded with lawmakers to repeal legislation limiting defense spending, arguing that fiscal constraints have crippled the military’s capability to respond to threats.

Despite annual defense spending coming in at more than $600 billion, each of the branches has asked to increase the 2017 defense budget by more than $30 billion to purchase new jet fighters and armored vehicles as well as improve training. This request from the panel of four-star military officers dovetails with President Trump’s promise to reinvest in a “depleted” fighting force and his Defense Department’s push to do away with limits on military spending.

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