...As things now stand, the Marine Corps does not expect to return to optimal aviation readiness levels until at least 2020 — assuming the service gets all the money it needs between now and then, Paxton told members of the House March 3. But the Marines may have to face another budget shock. Unless lawmakers reach a compromise, sequestration spending levels will return in fiscal 2018, when a two-year budget deal expires, said Jesse Sloman, a research assistant with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank in Washington. That would sink the Marine Corps' plan to fix the damage to aviation units by 2020, Sloman said. “If we went into another sequester, I think it would be disastrous,” he said.
In the News