The Air Force wants a $338.8 billion budget — a 34% jump that includes a 130% Space Force boost that flows to Clear

The Department of the Air Force is asking Congress for $338.8 billion in fiscal 2027 — a 34 percent year-over-year increase that Air Force Secretary Troy Meink described as breaking a long-standing pattern of underfunding stretching back two and a half decades.

The request includes $267.7 billion for the Air Force and $71.1 billion for the Space Force. Ranking Member Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, framed the scale: nearly $100 billion in defense discretionary budget growth, from $257 billion enacted to $351 billion under consideration.

For Alaska, the Space Force piece matters because of where Space Force facilities sit in the state. Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman described the $71.1 billion request as a "generational opportunity," noting it "boosts our top line by 130 percent and our end strength by 27 percent." Clear Space Force Station, in interior Alaska — already the focus of separate Air Force interest in private AI data center development — is one of the installations where that money could land.

The Air Force side of the request also addresses long-deferred infrastructure. Meink flagged a $50 billion facilities maintenance backlog and plans to nearly double investments in military construction and facility sustainment — funding that affects facility modernization at JBER and Eielson Air Force Base. Weapon systems sustainment is rising to over $24 billion under the request, with flying hours at nearly $10 billion.

The big procedural complication, covered separately, is that significant portions — including half the F-35 program and key munitions procurement — are routed through a partisan reconciliation bill that senators on both sides have publicly said is unlikely to pass. Meink himself acknowledged the risk: without reconciliation, "F-35 readiness, unmanned investments, and munitions procurement would be substantially impacted."

Tuesday's hearing was also Saltzman's last appearance before the subcommittee. He's expected to retire in August after more than 35 years of service.