{"id":42192,"date":"2018-07-17T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T07:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/17\/investments-in-baltic-nations-making-air-force-more-lethal-services-top-commander-in-europe-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:25:22","slug":"investments-in-baltic-nations-making-air-force-more-lethal-services-top-commander-in-europe-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/riat\/2018\/07\/17\/investments-in-baltic-nations-making-air-force-more-lethal-services-top-commander-in-europe-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Investments in Baltic nations making Air Force more lethal, service\u2019s top commander in Europe says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RAF FAIRFORD, England \u2014 Since 2017, the amount of money the Air Force is spending to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/air-warfare-symposium\/2017\/03\/06\/air-force-details-multiple-unsafe-and-unprofessional-russian-aircraft-intercepts\/\" target=_blank>deter Russian aggression<\/a> has almost tripled. That hike is having a real impact on readiness, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe told Defense News on July 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose funds have enhanced our lethality, our responsiveness and our resiliency and we want to make sure that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are in a position to where they can be quicker and faster and sharper and stronger than their predecessors,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2016\/09\/28\/q-a-us-air-force-gen-tod-wolters\/\" target=_blank>Gen. Tod Wolters in an exclusive interview<\/a> at the Royal International Air Tattoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The amount of money spent by the Air Force on the European Deterrence Initiative \u2014 the portion of the budget that invests in training and infrastructure meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/03\/15\/air-force-ups-support-for-allies-in-europe-keeps-close-eye-on-russia\/\" target=_blank>make Russia think twice about a confrontation with the United States<\/a> or its allies \u2014 has shot up from $388.7 million in fiscal year 2017 to $1.07 billion in FY18. A fiscal 2019 request of $1.13 billion is still yet to be approved by Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nato-priorities\/2018\/06\/25\/poking-the-bear-us-air-force-builds-in-russias-backyard\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4222856.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Poking the bear: US Air Force builds in Russia\u2019s backyard<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Air Force is quietly ramping up investments that will enable it to deploy to allied bases in Eastern Europe and operate close to Russia\u2019s western flank.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of the Air Force spending on EDI goes toward building up partners\u2019 bases, predominantly in Baltic nations like Estonia and Latvia or other Eastern European countries along Russia\u2019s border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt could be something as simple as rebuilding an air traffic control tower to where the visibility is 360 degrees and that controller can actually see every single aspect of the pattern from takeoff to landing,\u201d Wolters said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA simple improvement in that area will improve conditions for air launch and recovery, allow you if needed to increase the number of launches sand recoveries which will allow you to fly more, spend more time training side by side, and improve your readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, the Air Force wants to spend $368.6 million to pre-position equipment and $363.8 million for military construction in FY19 \u2014 a major increase from FY17, when it spent about one-seventh of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those investments would pay for everything from a new taxiway in Rygge, Norway, at a cost of $13.8 million to a $119 million facility in Ramstein, Germany, that would store tents, vehicles and other materials necessary if the Air Force needed to forward deploy to a country like Latvia or Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enhancements to infrastructure aren\u2019t glamorous, but they can make a real difference in the quality of life to the airmen temporarily deployed there, said Wolters, citing improvements to beddown conditions at airbases in Estonia and Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe chow halls are just improved a little bit. There\u2019s better access to hotels because we\u2019ve figured out which hotels to go to, which ones are closest to the installations, because we\u2019ve built this relationship in the embedded community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wolters also touted the effect of theater security packages, the service\u2019s name for temporary rotations of combat aircraft, many of which are funded under EDI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider the fact that when an F-15 squadron from the Air National Guard deploys to Romania \u2014 as is currently the case \u2014 those pilots will be working with air traffic controllers that could be located in anywhere from Camp Turzii to Mihail Kog\u0103lniceanu Air Base. If that person has a thick accent, precious seconds and minutes can be lost as Romanian and U.S. troops try to communicate with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe quicker you can communicate what\u2019s most important, the more capable you\u2019ll be,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound all that exciting, but saving seconds in an air confrontation could mean the difference between life and death. Today, it certainly enhances our ability to deter because we\u2019re more aligned. We\u2019re more transparent because we better understand each other as a result of having a longer and larger relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/09\/18\/airmen-remain-in-high-demand-in-europe\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AIR-USAFE.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Airmen remain in high demand in Europe<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The pace of rotational deployments and training exercises in Europe is high in 2017, and it won\u2019t be slowing down in the year to come, said the top Air Force commander there.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although it\u2019s rare that a general in the U.S. military says he\u2019s getting enough money, Wolters says the EDI budget is at just about the right level of \u201csmoothly and steadily\u201d increase readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you\u2019ve got an operating environment and it\u2019s not ready, willing and able to receive a quadrillion dollars and expend it, it won\u2019t do you a whole heck of a lot of good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut if you\u2019ve got an operating environment that gained predictability as a result of great conversations about schedule and flows of resources and time and money, you can continue with these readiness gains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Correction 7\/23\/18: A prior version of this story mistated the model of U.S. Air Force aircraft currently based in Romania as part of a theater security package. There are F-15s deployed there.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Air Force&#8217;s spending to deter Russia has tripled since fiscal year 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":96,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"}}},"categories":[7,44,8,160,29,46,11,36,96],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-42192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-budget","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","category-riat"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KOU5VWA6CNFM7OJULSEBE7WNBA","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/riat\/2018\/07\/16\/investments-in-baltic-nations-making-air-force-more-lethal-services-top-commander-in-europe-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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