INTEL DUMP - Pentagon swings its budget axe, hitting several programs
By Phillip Carter
Jason Sherman reports for InsideDefense.com (subscription required) that the Pentagon's #2 official has approved changes to future budget plans which would cut $30 billion in major weapons system procurement over the next six years, and shift more than $10 billion to the ailing Army. The moves come at a time when the Pentagon is being pressured to balance its books, along with every other federal agency, in order to help the White House reduce the massive budget deficit.
Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, approved the spending changes Dec. 23 in Program Budget Decision No. 753, a copy of which was obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The 26-page document marks one of the final steps in a year-long process to construct the Pentagon's 2006 spending proposal. Barring any persuasive last-minute appeal by a service chief or secretary, the decisions likely will be included in the Defense Department's 2006 spending request when it is forwarded to Congress in early February, according to a former Pentagon official familiar with the budget process.
The document directs significant changes to a number of major programs between 2006 and 2011 . . .
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These actions followed guidance issued earlier in December by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which called on the Pentagon to reduce the size of the 2006 budget request. But for months, defense budget experts have been warning that mounting health care costs, rising expenses from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and increased personnel outlays were adding up to expensive bills that could shake up the Pentagon's weapons modernization plans.
"We're likely seeing the beginning of the end of the military build-up that began at the end of the last decade," said Andrew Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
The list of major weapons systems cuts includes some of the most promising and successful programs in DOD. They're not just going after the low-hanging fruit here; these are tough choices being made. The list of affected programs includes:
- $5 billion in cuts to the Air Force's C130J program, and the Marines' KC-130J program;
- $10.5 billion in cuts to the Air Force's F/A-22 program, achieved by cutting the total aircraft purchase from 277 to 180 and speeding production;
- Restructuring the missile defense program, at a savings of $5 billion;
- Trimming $2.5 billion in Navy shipbuilding by cutting two ships from its next-generation destroyer procurement; axing the purchase of a new amphibious ship for $952 million; reducing Virginia class submarine production to one boat/year, saving $5.3 million;
- Cutting entirely the Joint Common Missile Program, at a savings of $2.3 billion.
And the list goes on... I'd like to print the whole thing, but federal copyright law precludes me from doing so. So check out the article at InsideDefense.Com or on the DOD Early Bird.
Analysis: The Pentagon appears to be taking the lead here by making a lot of the most painful cuts itself. The problem is that nothing's final in the area of procurement until the President and Congress get their say. Every weapons program has a constituency, from the contractors and subcontractors who build it to the communities who will be affected by these terminations to the members of Congress who depend on those jobs for reelection.
There are also significant weapons system constituencies within each service, and any attempt to kill these programs must silence/suppress those so they don't wage guerilla warfare against the Pentagon's efforts on Capitol Hill. We're a long way from seeing these cuts put into action, but I'm cautiously optimistic. This proposal frees up more money for America's land-based warfighters, at a time when they really need it. |
