CAPITOL HILL: The Air Force will have to cut flying hours by 18 percent, furlough 180,000 employees for 22 days and risk “catastrophic impact to people & readiness if sequestration occurs,” according to a congressional briefing prepared by the service.

As senior defense officials have warned before, the service will have to forego new program starts. Flying US Air Force jets at June’s Paris Air Show, a key part of the US effort to export American weapons, may not happen. The service may have to drop other flying as well.

This is the Air Force sequestration briefing provided to Congress. In order to get to readers as quickly as possible I’m posting it and will write later. All three services have now told Congress just how bad sequestration will be. The Navy got in first, confirming its perennial status as the most agile and politically savvy service (the uncharitable will argue that’s because the Marines are part of the Navy for budgetary purposes).