WARNER ROBINS -- The possibility of significant across-the-board cuts in military spending is a looming threat to Robins Air Force Base, but Lt. Gen. Andrew Busch said it isn’t the first time such a challenge has been faced.

Busch is vice commander of Air Force Materiel Command, the parent agency of Robins. He was the keynote speaker at a celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Air Force held Saturday. More than 600 people attended the event at the Museum of Aviation.

Busch, who formerly commanded the 402nd Maintenance Wing at Robins, noted the theme of the celebration was “Celebrating our past... soaring into the future.”

“It can be very easy to ask, ‘How can we soar into the future with the cuts we have right now?’ ” he said. “First I would say, we don’t have a choice.”

He said the federal budget deficit is a threat to national security and the Air Force must do its part to cut costs.

He also pointed out that when World War II ended, employment at Robins went from 23,600 to 4,100 in one year.

“We are not looking at anything like that, but I can tell you we have looked at these kinds of things in reductions at other times when our nation has asked us to do it,” he said. “The challenges look hard and they look very difficult, but they look no different than the challenges leadership faced after World War II, after Vietnam, after the Cold War, after Desert Storm.”

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.