Air Force calls for major upgrade

Top Air Force officials said the service must grow dramatically by 2025, including the addition of dozens of combat squadrons and 40,000 airmen, to confront increasing threats posed by China and Russia.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the chief of staff, said they would need to develop cost estimates before they present their plan to Congress. Military analysts said the new forces could cost more than $30 billion a year.

Wilson and Goldfein outlined the initiative, titled “The Air Force We Need,” at the Pentagon on Monday.

The plan is based on President Donald Trump’s defense strategy, assessments of the military strength of adversaries and the ability of the Air Force to confront them, Wilson and Goldfein said. The 2018 National Defense Strategy, released in January, calls on the Pentagon to defend the homeland, maintain the nuclear weapons deterrent, defeat China or Russia, deal with threats such as Iran and North Korea and continue to fight extremists.

“The most stressing of all those cases is China,” Wilson said.

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