Marco Rubio in OnTheIssues Fact Checking


On Homeland Security: FactCheck: Yes, Air Force is now smallest in its history

Sen. Marco Rubio asserted, "Today, we are on pace to have the smallest Army since the end of World War II, the smallest Navy in 100 years, the smallest Air Force in our history." It seemed to us that, with ever-improving technology since the Air Force was formed in 1947, that Rubio had to be mistaken, so we dug up old records from 1968 (the peak of Vietnam) and 1980 (when Reagan started building up "the hollow military") and compared to today:

Category19681980 2015
Personnel905,000 558,000307,000
Aircraft15,50010,1005,600
Budget (2015 $)$545B$393B$140B

We checked other years too: between WWII and Vietnam, the counts were much higher due to the Korean War. In summary, any way you measure it, Rubio is correct: the Air Force is the smallest now whether you count personnel, aircraft, or budget.

Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on 2016 Fox Republican debate in Iowa Jan 28, 2016

The above quotations are from Presidential Primary Fact Checking by OnTheIssues.org.
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Page last updated: Nov 03, 2024