Ninety days into his new job, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., is tackling a systemic problem the service has faced for years-creating a dialog with Capitol Hill to explain why it is necessary to retire older aircraft and use those dollars for new equipment. The latest example of this is a battle between the Air National Guard and governors of 14 states. In its latest budget submission, the Air Force proposed the retirement of aging C-130Hs to make way for other modernization priorities. The service advocated cutting five flying squadrons as part of an effort to reduce the C-130 total aircraft inventory to approximately 255 aircraft over the next five years.
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