The U.S. Navy Blue Angels aerobatic team flies over the United States Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony in Annapolis, Md., May 22, 2009.
Bad news, air show fans: If sequestration goes through, no more Blue Angels in the second half of 2013.
Sequestration would force the Navy to cut all funding to the aerial demonstration squadron for the third and fourth quarters of 2013, according to a brief from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, obtained by U.S. News. It depicts the prospective cuts to Navy programs if Congress does not pass a FY13 budget, or if sequestration takes place.
That means no blue and gold F/A-18s screaming through the skies as of March 1 onward.
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The 65-year-old organization has more than 30 events scheduled for the latter half of the year, including shows at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., at the end of August, in San Diego, Calif., in early October and at Pensacola, Fla., in early November.
Congress successfully pushed the sequestration deadline to March. If it can't reach a budget solution then, the Navy will be faced with $4 billion in cuts that will stop deployments to the Caribbean and South America, limit deployments in Europe, hamper maintenance and training hours and axe some civilian employees.
To prepare for the potential cuts, get your fix here:
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