Page 22 - Fighter Squadrons News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

In it. you know i was a former air force pilots. i flew combat rescue helicopters and the b-1. we had 157 fighter squadrons. we have 58 today. when i was in the military, we had 350,000 troops in all of europe. we have 35,000 today. vladimir putin looks at that and laughs. it's not a serious deterrent to him. it simply isn't. the european defense initiative part of the bill is a very, very important part, saying to russia in a serious way we know what your intentions are. crimea, the eastern part of ukraine, his threats towards other former warsaw pact countries. it says to him we are going to...

[applause] i will tell you the new equipment that we're ordering by the billions, by the absolute billions and billions, it's equipment like you have never even thought of before. there's nobody in the world that will have anything even close to us and what we're doing. that's my great honor, believe me. i said it early on and i say it again. there's nobody even close. [cheers & applause] our armed forces have endured continuous combat for the past 26 years. yet despite this, the number of airmen on active duty has dropped by a third since the 1990s and we've cut more than half of our fighter ...

We also had confirmation testimony last november by a general who said continuous combat operations and reduced overall budgets have driven readiness to historically low levels. i look and i see senator cohen and senator nunn, i spent time with both of them, i admire them so much. but this isn't like it used to be. right now we have 1/3 of the army brigade combat teams ready to fight in all types warfare. the current air force is the smallest and oldest in air force history yet only half its fighter squadrons are ready to fight in intense combat. general mattis, your marines, the aircraft, the...

Testimony last november that said continuous combat operations and reduced overall budgets have driven readiness to historically low levels. and i look and i see senator cohen and senator dunn, i spent time with both of them, i admire them so much. but this isn't like it used to be. right now we have one third of the army briga combat teams are ready to fight in all types of warfare. the current air force is the smallest and oldest in the air force history yet only half of its fighter squadrons are ready to fight in intensity combat. and general mattis, your marines, the aircraft, their combat...

Intelligence says it's not just the airmen needing a boost. >> we have a geriatric air force. we have bombers and tankers over 50 years old. trainers over 40 years old. we have fighters and helicopters over 30 years old. this is a terrible situation to be placed in when we have a world of every expanding threats. >> reporter: officials say they need more forces to bolster nuclear, intelligence, space and maintenance jobs. earlier this year, the general called the pilot shortage alone a crisis. >> the reason i believe it's a crisis, air superiority is not an american birth right. it's something...