Pentagon’s 8-percent budget shift could be ‘painful’ for the Air Force

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon officials to find ways to cut 8 percent from each of the next five years' budgets so those funds can be used for new priorities. But finding such cuts in the Air Force will be "painful," a service official warned. “Let's be frank, the Air Force has gotten smaller. The Air Force has gotten older. As you look at where the Air Force has gone, we've protected the core [missions], which is homeland defense, strategic