An A-10 “Warthog” firing its infamous 30 mm gun.

CORRECTION ADDED

WASHINGTON: The Biden Administration, sweeping aside objections from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, is asking for $1.3 billion more than Congress approved last year for two key nuclear weapons, the Minuteman III replacement known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, and the Long Range Stand Off cruise missile.

While close watchers of defense budgets know the Democratic Party has long harbored a deep divide on nuclear weapons, there’s been much gnashing of teeth by proponents of the triad modernization, fearful that a President Biden might mean trouble for the nuclear enterprise’s need to modernize.

The RDT&E 2022 request for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent is $2.6 billion, while the LRSO request is $609 million. Those are up from $1.4 billion appropriated last year for GBSD and $385 million for LRSO. In addition, the crucial new Nuclear Command and Control (NC3) system rises from $388 million appropriated last year to a request of $436 million.

Air Force photo

Airmen install a new cable run on an aging Minuteman III missile.

We’ll probably hear from some Democrats during the Senate and House committee hearings about this spending, but the odds seem pretty long that they will find enough support to quash something the Biden White House appears to support so strongly.

The Space Force request, which is made by the Department of the Air Force, is $17.4 billion, up from the $15.2 billion it received from Congress in 2021.

As usually happens with space systems, the RDT&E budget far exceeds the procurement budget. In this case the 2022 request is $11.3 billion up from $10.5 billion appropriated for 2021. CORRECTION BEGINS The $2.8 billion procurement request includes $1.4 billion $686 million for two GPS III satellites that have new anti-jam capabilities, and adds $341 million to $996 million already appropriated in 2021 for five National Security Space Launch vehicles.CORRECT ENDS

The most shocking news to those who don’t follow the Air Force closely is something our colleague John Tirpak first reported: the retirement of more than 200 so-called legacy aircraft (old ones that can still fly) to help sink money into new generations of advanced weapons, such as Next Generation Air Dominance. The 2022 budget request is $1.52 billion for NGAD, up from $902 million appropriated in 2021. The money saved from retiring those older aircraft, an estimated $1.3 billion, will be hard to come by. Congress hates “losing” existing aircraft at bases in their districts, especially in any numbers.

Interestingly, the Navy classified its NGAD budget in the 2022 request.

Here’s the official rationale: “This budget starts us on the path necessary to organize, train, and equip the Air and Space Forces to deter and, if necessary, defeat the challenges we anticipate in 2030 and beyond,” Acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth said in a statement. “It not only funds the capabilities required today, but also where the Department of the Air Force needs to make trade-offs to invest in the capabilities required for future competition.”

Plus, one of the aircraft, the A-10, comes about as close as any plane to having a fan club on Capitol Hill. The tank killer and close air support plane has won reprieves from the boneyard before, most notably in a campaign led by former Sen. Kelly Ayotte and the late John McCain. The service plans to cut 42 Warthogs, bringing the fleet to around 239 planes.

The opposition, predictably, has already begun, led by Arizona senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema who issued a statement with House colleagues before the budget was formally released this morning, my colleague Valerie Insinna reported. The A-10 is based — surprise! — at Arizona’s Davis Monthan Air Force Base.

The other aircraft that may soon earn a desert retirement include 48 F-15C/Ds, 47 F-16 C/Ds, 20 RQ-4 Block 30s, 18 KC-135s, 14 KC-10s, 13 C-130Hs, and four E-8 aircraft.

Overall, the service is asking for $156.3 billion in 2022, a $2.3 billion increase over 2021 appropriations. The operations and maintenance request is $63.2 billion. While that appears to be an increase for operations from the $60.8 billion appropriated in 2021, but the demise of the separate OCO bill means that it’s not much of an increase.

For our readers, the procurement request is down $3.2 billion from $26 billion appropriated last year to $22.8 billion requested for 2022. Following the general theme of the DoD budget, the RDT&E request is up to $28.8 billion from $26.6 billion.

The service plans to buy 48 F-35As and 12 F-15EXs for $4.5 billion and $1.3 billion, but the F-35 buy is almost certain to increase once it hits Capitol Hill. The Air Force also wants to buy two more KC-46s than planned in last year’s budget. That would mean 14 planes for $2.4 billion.

If there is one theme for this Air Force budget year it is that Congress holds the hammer. The delicate balance between buying fewer new planes, retiring old, less capable planes and investing in systems that will jump a generation to put us ahead of China can be shattered by the most parochial interests.

CORRECTION: Somehow I more than doubled the procurement request for GPS III. It is corrected above. Apologies.