Thread: Proposed US Defense Budget Changes

So yesterday, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined his proposal for the Department of Defense's 2010 budget. His proposal contains some pretty significant changes from the DOD's budget over the last several years. Basically, it cuts funding to a bunch of high-tech, high-cost weapons systems that are oriented towards fighting conventional "symmetrical" wars, and puts a lot more funding towards manpower, surveillance/intelligence resources, special operations forces, and other stuff that will putatively help the US in it's current "asymmetrical" conflicts against unconventional guerrilla/insurgent enemies. A quick run down:

• Halt production of the F-22 at 187 units, which will mean buying 4 more (we currently have 183) and then stopping the program. Simultaneously, ramp up purchase of the cheaper F-35, and buy more F/A-18s for the Navy.

• Cancel the VH-71 program, which is aimed at procuring new Presidential helicopters for the "Marine One" fleet (thank god, this program was a total waste). Also cancel a $15 billion program to develop new search-and-rescue choppers for the Air Force.

• Reorient the ballistic missile defense program towards defending against missile launches from "rogue states", as well as battlefield systems to protect troops against tactical missile threats. In other words, less focus on shooting down ICBMs, more focus on shooting down Scuds and North Korean dong-missiles.

• Totally cancel the Transformational Satellite Communications System, which currently costs about $25 billion.

• Stop any further growth of procurement plans for the Zumwalt-class destroyer (price tag: A couple billion bucks per ship) and instead keep upgrading and procuring the existing Arleigh Burke class, which are much cheaper.

• Cut the vehicle components from the Army's Future Combat Systems program and instead stick with Abrams tanks, Bradley IFVs, and Strykers for the foreseeable future (I'm not so sure this is a good idea). The FCS program as a whole costs about $160 billion right now, this reduction will remove a good chunk of that.

• Budget another $11 billion to recruit another 65,000 personnel for the Army and another 27,000 personnel for the Marine Corps.

• Budget another $2 billion for the surveillance and intelligence-gathering systems, such as unmanned aircraft, that are proving very useful in our current conflicts (make with the spy-blimps, DARPA).

• Add another 2,800 personnel to various special operations units (Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, etc.).

That's not all, but it's most of the major items. This is going to make a lot of people unhappy. A lot of congressmen are strong supporters of programs like the F-22, because those programs provide a lot of jobs in their home districts. They aren't going to want to see programs like that terminated. It's also going to displease people, both in the military and in the civilian government, who think the US needs to keep it's conventional warfare abilities on the cutting edge. It's also not going to go over too well with companies like Lockheed Martin, who are providing a lot of the high-tech weapon systems (especially missile systems and aviation systems) that are getting cut. For instance, anyone who reads the Washington Post may have noticed that Lockheed Martin has recently been running a bunch of full-page ads talking about how the F-22 program employs 95,000 Americans and stuff like that (talk about terminating the F-22 has been going around for a while now, this new budget proposal isn't the first time it's been suggested). Congressional reaction has been pretty subdued so far, for various reasons, but you can bet that these proposals will become an issue at some point. Congress won't be able to hammer out the 2010 budget legislation without a lot of arguing over this.

So: Thoughts? I know a lot of people have strong feelings one way or the other on the US military, the things it does, and the things it buys.