Budget Cuts Turned All Of These Air Force Birds Into Paperweights

Al Clark prepared the following exclusive infographic which maps all the unit groundings recently ordered by the U.S. Air Force as a consequence of sequestration-related budget cuts.

The color breakdown is: White, for Combat Mission Ready units; Grey, for Basic Mission Capable units; Red for grounded units.

The active-duty units were ordered to stand down starting Apr. 9 to ensure the “survival” of the remaining units supporting worldwide operations through the remainder of the fiscal year. A rough analysis shows that the least impacted command is PACAF (Pacific Air Forces); a sign of the U.S. Pivot to the Pacific, where Washington faces China’s growing military power and North Korea’s threats.