Air Force Secretary urges transformation to meet Chinese challenge

Lorna Aldrich

April 21, 2022

Citing China as the most serious current threat to U.S. national security, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall called the fiscal year 2023 budget request for the Air Force a first step in its transformation to meet the threat. He spoke Tuesday at a National Press Club Headliners event.

The Department of the Air Force requested $194 billion, an 11.7 percent increase from 2022. Of that, $169.5 billion is for the Air Force itself and 24.5 billion for the Space Force, the newest component of the Department of the Air Force.

Kendall said he returned to government after four years in the private sector because of a concern about the country’s ability to project military power, a concern he still has.

“The budget we have submitted contains an appropriate balance between present capabilities and investments in the future,” he said.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall stressed the need for freedom of movement in space. Photo by D.J. Caulfield

The investments in the future will transform the Air Force, he said. He sees “hard choices” ahead because the 20 percent requested increase in research and development funding is only the down payment on what is needed. He said he works with congressional delegations and wishes to communicate a sense of urgency to the Congress.

“Congress…controls the budget and the budget controls what we can do," he said.

In addition to the basic challenge posed by China, he acknowledged a Russian threat, but noted that the $770 billion total U.S. military budget is 50 percent of the Russian economy, but just 5 percent of China’s.

Kendall said his perspective on the current challenge from China follows from his experience of 20 years in the Cold War. Most of the people in uniform today do not have that perspective, he said. Noting that the Soviet Union had good scientists and engineers, he said, “I know what it’s like to have a peer competitor actively trying to defeat you.”

In a Q&A with NPC President Jen Judson, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall spoke about retaining talent in the service. Photo by D. J. Caulfield

“Our strategic deterrence is in pretty good shape," Kendall said of the current force. “Where I’m most concerned is our conventional deterrence, our ability to project power."

The average age of an Air Force plane is 30 years old, which needs to be reduced, he said. The Department’s budget requests 33 F-35s and 24 F-15EXs. Kendall called the F-35 “the cornerstone of the Air Force.

Club President Jen Judson, who moderated the session, turned the conversation to human resource issues in the Air Force.

She noted that 11 percent of white members of the Air Force are officers, but only 6 percent of African Americans are. Furthermore, of the 14,000 pilots in the Air Force, fewer than 300 are African Americans. Kendall said, “We’re trying to find root causes here, but we’re also doing outreach.”

She cited a report of 245 cadets at the Air Force Academy accused of cheating. The Secretary noted that some people from the current culture have a different value system from that of 50 years ago. The Air Force works with people, trying to change their attitudes rather than immediately dismissing them, he said.

With respect to sexual harassment issues, he noted that the attitudes of 50 years ago do prevail in some cases and the Air Force is addressing the issue with no tolerance of sexual harassment.

On recruitment and retention, he said the Air Force is in good shape for the coming year because of a backlog of people wanting in, but may have to work harder in a tight labor market in the following year.

Her final question was which movie’s presentation of the Air Force is his favorite. He named “A Man Called Joe,” a 1943 romantic fantasy about a pilot killed in Europe who returns from heaven to help a younger pilot flying in the Pacific. The younger pilot gets the woman, also later in the Pacific, that the older pilot left behind.