Ladies and gentlemen, were going to get started here. Ladies and gentlemen, im captain hope cronin, air force public affairs. Thank you for being with us. First, just to reiterate ground rules. One question, one followup, please, so we can get to as many questions as possible. Additionally, ill give a final question towards the end. As a reminder, tomorrow at 9 30 in the morning well have the air force space budget rollout, that is a separate budget rollout. If you would like more information about that, please find me afterwards and ill give you further details. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, general martin and ms. Gleason. Good afternoon, im general james martin and im joined by my associate, carolyn gleason. I think what youll see in this budget is that our message and our budget is consistent with what weve done over the last two years. For the last seven years, though, american airmen have always been there, breaking barriers, dominating the high ground, and providing unmatched global vigilance, reach, and power as part of the worlds greatest joint war fighting team. The unique capabilities that we bring are foundational to the joint force in our nation. But 26 years of continuous combat operations and budget uncertainty have taken their toll. Since 2014, the world has changed. It continues to remain very unstable. Today, air force capabilities are in high demand. And that demand will only continue to grow. To meet the demands now and into the future, we believe our fy 18 budget request sets the conditions to improve readiness, fill critical capability gaps and build future lethality. But it will take time and it will take Additional Resources. To be successful, we will need an increase over bca caps as well as predictable, sufficient, and flexible budgets, so we can recover readiness and build a more capable and lethal force for the future. Next slide. As always, we work hard to make every dollar count. So we use a very deliberate process to link resources with strategic guidance, combat commander expectations and the requirements of the joint force. Our fy 18 request is based on guidance from the secretary of defense and his commitment to strengthen our joint team by improving war fighter readiness, addressing critical shortfalls, while building a larger, more capable and more lethal force. Our budget request follows that guidance and it puts priority on investing in airmen, readiness, combat air forces, nuclear deterrence, space and Cyber Capabilities as well as infrastructure. All critical components for the joint force and the security of our nation. Next slide. Getting this right is important, because air force capabilities are critical to the joint force. Our challenge in the fiscally constrained environment is to dominate the high ground, leading and flawlessly executing our missions. We are americas 911 force, able to deliver full spectrum effects anywhere on the globe in matter of hours. We ensure freedom from attack and the ability to attack at a time and place of our choosing. And an able to operate freely in both peacetime and wartime. We are the eyes and ears of the joint force. We provide secure, survivable and timely command and control capabilities over multiple domains. While at the same time protecting the homeland and ensuring a Strong Nuclear deterrence. To meet current and future demands, we must invest in capabilities to fight and win today but also the capabilities needed to fight and win five, ten, 15, 20 years from now. Next slide. On the last slide you saw a number of platforms. But its our people that make us the worlds greatest air force. Behind every one of those Weapons Systems are airmen who support, develop, maintain, and operate those platforms, delivering the unique capabilities that we provide to the joint force. Our airmen remain engaged 24 7, 365 days a year, at home and abroad. As we speak, more than 100,000 airmen stand watching deployed locations around the world. While thousands of airmen protect the homeland, fight from home station, and stand alert 24 7, sporting two legs upportir Nations Nuclear triad. What you see on this slide are highlights of what our airmen bring to the fight. They are are foundational to successful joint operations around the world. They are always there at the beginning, the middle, and the end of every operation. Theyre doing great things for our nation, in very tough conditions. So its our moral obligation to ensure all airmen we send into harms way are properly trained, equipped, and led so they can be successful as part of the joint team. To help, we are working to revitalize squadrons across the air force. This is the most essential command, where airmen and families thrive, and where the missions of the air force succeed. Next slide. Americas air force is still great. But 26 years of continuous combat operations have taken their toll. However, americas expectations of our air force are still shaped by the incredible success of operation desert storm. But the reality is we are not the same air force we were back then. Back then, we had 134 combat fighter squadrons. Today we have 55. Today we have 50 fewer people. 37 fewer aircraft. And the average age of our aircraft is 27 years. Our readiness levels remain challenged at a time when we are busier than at any time in our history, while the demand for air force capabilities continues to grow. Since august of 2014, the air force has led the Global Response against violent extremist organizations. And we remain heavily engaged in afghanistan. Were facing a resurgent russia, a rising china, an unpredictable north korea, and multiple hospital spo hotspots around the globe. The capability gap is growing fast. Advanced air defenses and radars are becoming more common. Competitors continue to invest in new technology in their own fifth generation aircraft. Space and cyber domains are becoming more congested and contested. What weve learned is that future conflicts and contingencies will be transregional, multifunctional, multidomain, and will require fast action by joint and coalition forces. Our joint team, our allies, and our nation expect the air force to respond quickly with overwhelming force to dominate the high ground throughout every phase of every conflict. Next slide. This chart illustrates some of the challenges i described on the previous chart and the budget uncertainty we have faced over the past five years. That budget uncertainty, sequestration, and operating at less than planned budget levels have forced us to make tough choices which resulted in lost capability, lost capacity, and reduced readiness. At the same time, the world changed in 2014 and continues to remain unstable and more complex. All driving increased demand and Mission Growth and isr space and cyber. So we are grateful for the modest short term relief provided by congress in the last bipartisan budget act and the passage of the 17 appropriation, which addressed many of our critical shortfalls. Looking ahead to fy 18, we believe our request sets the foundation to improve readiness and invest in capabilities needed for the future. However, fy 18 is a pivotal year, because the budget control act and sequestration remain the law. Without relief from bca caps, it would drive a choice between ready and capable now or ready and capable in the future. Its a false choice, because we need both to be successful. Next slide. This slide highlights those choices. What we can do if the fy 18 budget is supported versus what could happen if we were forced to absorb large reductions. As you can see in the green box, the fy 18 budget request allows us to sustain excites to support Combatant Commanders most urgent requirements. It funds readiness components to support readiness recovery and invests in people by providing additional pay and entitlements. It allows us to fund munitions to capacity, to support current ops and improve inventory requirements. It will strengthen our Nuclear Enterprise and advance investments in space and cyber. We can invest in our top recapitalization programs and maintain airlift capacity for worldwide demand. Finally, we can invest in infrastructure for new mission beddowns, training, and readiness as we train and operate from bases at home and abroad. However, if the air force had to absorb large reductions, impacts to readiness, future modernization, infrastructure, and people cannot be avoided. Thats where the money is. And those are the accounts that you can dial down quickly. To pay the bill, we would have to consider all options such as reducing force structure, delaying even more modernization programs, short changing readiness accounts, and delaying investments in our strategic assets such as nuclear, space, isr and cyber. Infrastructure would continue to suffer, as we would be forced to take risks and action weve repeated since fy 13 sequestration. Worst of all, it would impact people. Both through quality of life and quality of service. The bottom line, all these choices are bad. We simply cant afford the risk of returning to bca. So we need predictable, stable budgets with sufficient funding so we can plan for the air force that we need now and in the future. Next slide. Lets take a look at the highlights of our fy 18 budget. For comparison, the bar on the left is our fy 17 enacted budget. The bar on the right is our fy 18 budget request. It represents our total force budget to include active duty guard and reserve components. The top block is what we referred to as nonblue, which is the portion of the air force budget which is managed by other departments or agencies. The remainder of the budget or the air force blue budget baseline is the focus for todays brief. In the brackets youll see the air force budget for fy 18 is approximately 132. 4 billion, which is roughly 23 of dods fy 18 budget. The 132. 4 billion, approximately 80 billion supports day to day operations. Military and civilian pay make up 52 of the day to day operating costs. Flying hours, weapons system sustainment, and missions executed at our Major Commands total 39 of the funding. Facility requirements and Installation Support represent the remaining 9 of the total operating costs. The blue and the gray boxes at the bottom summarize our top procurement and largest rdt e programs. These programs total approximately 29 billion or about 55 of our investment accounts. So ill go back to what i said on a previous slide. So you can see that the largest portions of our budget are in people, readiness, and modernization. So when forced to take large reductions, we simply cant avoid impacts in these areas. Now well look at each appropriation starting with military personnel. The air forces number one priority remains people. Growing in strength is crucial for readiness recovery and readiness depends on the contributions of the total force, active, guard and reserve. Our request grows total force strength to approximately 502,000. A total force increase of 5800 from fy 17. It increases the active duty force by 4100 with an increase of 1700 for the guard and reserve. This budget begins to address the Pilot Shortage by adding training capacity in our formal training units while also increasing our incentive pay structure. It will provide serge to support two new f16 training units and other initiatives to increase pilot production and training. We will also increase pilot Retention Bonuses from 25 to 35,000 per year, the first increase since 1999. This budget will allow us to continue our progress in tackling maintain manpower shortfalls while also addressing critical capability gaps and critical career fields such as nuclear, cyber, and the rpa enterprise. To help with retention, we will continue to offer incentive pays and bonuses to encourage experienced airmen to stay. We will also continue higher tenure extensions for personnel in key career fields to further retain experience. Additionally, this budget allows us to add 200 recruiters and personnel to right size the Training Pipeline to support over 29,000 enlisted accessions. Furthermore, with our chief priority to revitalize our squadrons, this budget also adds over 200 Commander Support staff personnel to ease the burden of additional duties which allows airmen to focus on their core mission. Finally, the fy 18 budget requests a pay raise for our airmen and retirement system effective january 1, 2018. Next slide. The fy 18 operation and maintenance budget prioritizes readiness recovery and provides funding for vital support to our airmen and their families. The o m request fully supports the air forces top priority to grow total force military and strength by funding recruiting, infrastructure, and training efforts aimed at addressing critical shortfalls discussed on the previous slide. As we have said over the last few years, readiness recovery is not a short term fix. And it will take years to full will i ly rebuild. We will continue funding flying hours to executable levels and Weapons Systems sustainment to near capacity. We also continue to invest in ranges, simulators, and Critical Skills training such as combat flag exercises and advanced weapons schools. To go along with the manpower, the request funds o m requirements for two additional f16 training requirements had the last year we began an effort to free up skill maintainers to transition to the f35 fleet by contracting Maintenance Support at some of our active duty training units. This budget continues that effort. This budget also supports 60 rpa combat lines with a surge capability of an additional ten governmentowned combat lines funded with oka. This request fully funds Cyber Mission teams. In fy 18 we are on track to grow from 30 to 39 operational teams. Well continue to fund icbm sustainment, key nc3 upgrades, and continue our commitment to advanced space capabilities. It will fix all ends infrastructure by funding facility sustainment at 80 and restoration of modernization repair at 1. 9 of the plant replacement value. This budget also takes care of our airmen and their families. We improve a number of quality life and military family programs, increase personnel at our Family Support centers, and fund 961 civilian positions on the Commander Support staff to support the authority to reinvigorate squadrons, implementing funds appropriated. The budget also funds 449 deck indicated Sexual Assault prevention and response personnel. Finally, this budget supports a 1. 9 pay raise for our civilian airmen. Next slide. Our fy 18 procurement budget preserves our top modernization programs, sustains our space procurement strategy, invests in the Nuclear Enterprise, and funds munitions to capacity. This budget procures 46 f35s, 15 kc46s, and five nc130js, while also continuing modernization efforts for our fourth and fifth generation aircraft. For munitions, as weve discussed, we remain challenged by the pace of current operations. Therefore, for our preferred immune in additions such as jdam, sdb1, and hell fire, well begin to replenish our inventories. For readiness improvements, well invested in upgraded capabilities so airmen remain agile and lethal. The air force remains committed to advancing our capabilities to operate in that environment. Fy 18 is the block buy for go 5 and 6 and well begin long lead procurement for 7 and 8. This budget supports our goal of maintaining assured access to space with funding for three competitive launch opportunities. So the next slide shows our major procurement quantities. So these are the planned procurement quantities for the budget which shows base and oka. Based on current demand as we talked about on the previous slide, well put an emphasis on replenishing our weapons inventory. Continuing what we start in fy 17, again, we are buying preferred munitions to capacity. Next slide. For research, development, testaments, and evaluations appropriation, you know, the air force, you know, innovation has always been at the core of the air force identity. And its been a big part of our history. So what rtd e funding allows us to do is take an idea, leap an idea to technology we use every day. So just imagine our World Without gps. As i mentioned, the capability gap is closing. We must continue to invest in Game Changing technologies such as hypersonics, directed energy, unmanned Autonomous Systems and nanotechnology. To ensure our Nuclear Forces remain capable and credible, this request provides funding for future Nuclear Capabilities with significant increases to the Long Range Standoff weapon and the ground based strategic deterrence. In order to combat the cyber threat, we are investing in offensive and defensive initiatives to train and equip our cyber forces with the capabilities they need to defend the nation. This request also funds our next Generation Bomber as the program progresses into detailed divide. The b21 raider will provide flexibility across a wide range of military options, providing both conventional and Nuclear Capabilities. This budget request also invests in a program that will deliver revolutionary next generation Propulsion Systems for multiple combat aircraft applications. Finally, our request increases Operational Systems Development to upgrade fourth and fifth gen legacy aircraft such as the f22. Next slide. For our military construction, we are focusing on new weapons system pedestribeddowns and pr facilities for essential training and requirements. This budget supports Combatant Commanders highest construction authorities and improves our posture of forces in europe, an enhanced asianpacific resiliency. It highlights the Major Projects for active guard and reserve. The overall air forces fy 18 milcon budget represents a balanced approach to ensure requirements meet mission needs, operational timelines, and enhance our capabil