Budget Cuts Turned All Of These Air Force Birds Into Paperweights

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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.

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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.