Air Force undersecretary: Service 'less ready than it needs to be'

Air Force Undersecretary Matthew Lohmeier provided a bleak assessment of the service’s current readiness outlook, calling it “older, smaller, and less ready than it needs to be to defend the homeland and deter aggression in the Pacific.”

The undersecretary’s warning about the dangers of the service’s chronic underinvestment came during his keynote address on Monday, during the opening day of Life Cycle Industry Days 2026.