A major defense industry trade association said Tuesday that it supports Sen. John McCain’s $640 billion plan to rebuild the military.
David Melcher, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said in a statement that the proposed boost to defense spending is “overdue.” “As the voice of American aerospace and defense, the Aerospace Industries Association has long argued that our national security enterprise is seriously underfunded,” he said.
“AIA believes it is critical that Congress appropriate adequate funds, achieve an appropriate balance among accounts funding force modernization as well as readiness and operations, and do so both consistently and on time,” he continued. “The spending levels proposed by Senator McCain are a strong first step in that direction.”
The $640 billion plan, which McCain outlined in a white paper Monday, would be $90 billion more than the fiscal 2017 funding level, $55 billion more than what President Obama requested for fiscal 2018 in last year’s budget and $7 billion more than the last pre-sequestration budget produced under Defense Secretary Robert Gates predicted for fiscal 2018, according to Katherine Blakeley, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
It includes growing the Marine Corps’ troop levels, buying 59 more ships over the next five years and increasing production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet to fill gaps created by F-35 delays.
