Gates's budget ax: winners and losers - Laura Rozen - POLITICO.com
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* Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
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Gates's budget ax: winners and losers - Laura Rozen: Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
January 07, 2011
Categories:
* Defense,
* Defense Department,
* Gates
Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
POLITICO's Phil Ewing runs down highlights from Defense Secretary Bob Gates's barn burner budget- cut speech yesterday and judges the winners and losers:
WIN, LOSE or DRAW:
THE ARMY: DRAW - Loses the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and the Non-Line-Of Sight Missile, which was dead already. Gains new funds for soldier suicide prevention and substance abuse counseling, modernization of its vehicle fleet, faster fielding of its tactical communications network, more MC-12 surveillance drones, an accelerated Grey Eagle and building of a whole new helicopter UAV.
THE AIR FORCE: WINNER - Loses nothing, in terms of programs. Gains modernized radars for the F-15 fleet, more Reapers and steadier institutional support for UAVs in the budget, increased procurement of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle and more F-35A simulators.
- AND, OH BY THE WAY, the Air Force will (re)start work on ... wait for it ... the next-generation bomber! Every heart inside every blue suit surged Thursday with the news. Gates said the bomber will be nuclear-capable, optionally unmanned and must enter the fleet in time to replace today's aging fleet.
THE NAVY: DRAW - Loses no programs. Gains an accelerated timetable for a new generation of electronic attack aircraft, a new seaborne UAV, yet more F/A-18 Super Hornets and refurbishing of the Marine Corps' vehicle fleet. Most of the shipbuilding arrangements Gates announced, such as the littoral combat ship, already were decided.
THE MARINE CORPS: BIG LOSER - Not only does the Corps lose the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, as we covered in depth on Thursday, Gates announced that he is putting the F-35B on "probation" for the next two years. Gates said the jet is having many problems, ones that could necessitate "redesign of the aircraft's structure and propulsion" - read: a lot more money. If engineers can't get the F-35B right by the end of its probation, Gates said, he'd support canceling it. (But will he still be around then? Excellent question!)
- AMOS ENDORSED THE DEATH OF THE EFV, he said in a statement Thursday, while also emphasizing that the Marines must keep their ability to do forced-entry amphibious invasions. He wants to explore a new, cheaper amphibious transport that gets the job done but won't endure the cost and development struggles of the EFV. And Congress is spoiling for a fight about this - full coverage by DiMascio. Will Congress save the Marines? EFV? - Jen DiMascio - POLITICO.com
M-D PERSPECTIVE: ADVANTAGE SECDEF - Gates and Mullen emerged from Thursday's announcements like Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "The Sting:" There's nothing they can do about who walks up to their table (i.e. Congress) but for now, these guys are running the game. This year's official budget discussion is still weeks away, but now it will proceed on Gates's terms. And as House Republicans continue their splashy demonstrations - such as cutting $35 million from their own budget to show how serious they are on spending - the political table here appears to favor the dealers. For now.
HILL DEFENSE ADVOCATES BLASTED GATES'S ANNOUNCEMENT. But Republicans had to walk a tricky line, taking care to express support both for prudent spending and strong defense. Said McKeon: "I remain committed to applying more fiscal responsibility and accountability to the Department of Defense, but I will not stand idly by and watch the White House gut defense when Americans are deployed in harm's way."
Missouri's Todd Akin, chairman of the HASC seapower subcommittee, issued a statement that castigated the Obama administration for wanting to cut spending during wartime and remonstrated Gates for killing the EFV: "If the President and the Secretary of Defense want to get rid of the Marine Corps, they should come out and say that directly," he said. But in the very same press release, Akin also praised Gates for permitting the Navy to buy another batch of Boeing-made, Missouri-built F/A-18 Super Hornets. Akin and other Super Hornet supporters may well push for another multi-year deal to lock in all those jets.
All in all, Ewing conclude, Thursday was an eventful day.
* POLITICO
* Laura Rozen
* Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
Main Content
Gates's budget ax: winners and losers - Laura Rozen: Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
January 07, 2011
Categories:
* Defense,
* Defense Department,
* Gates
Gates's budget ax: winners and losers
POLITICO's Phil Ewing runs down highlights from Defense Secretary Bob Gates's barn burner budget- cut speech yesterday and judges the winners and losers:
WIN, LOSE or DRAW:
THE ARMY: DRAW - Loses the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and the Non-Line-Of Sight Missile, which was dead already. Gains new funds for soldier suicide prevention and substance abuse counseling, modernization of its vehicle fleet, faster fielding of its tactical communications network, more MC-12 surveillance drones, an accelerated Grey Eagle and building of a whole new helicopter UAV.
THE AIR FORCE: WINNER - Loses nothing, in terms of programs. Gains modernized radars for the F-15 fleet, more Reapers and steadier institutional support for UAVs in the budget, increased procurement of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle and more F-35A simulators.
- AND, OH BY THE WAY, the Air Force will (re)start work on ... wait for it ... the next-generation bomber! Every heart inside every blue suit surged Thursday with the news. Gates said the bomber will be nuclear-capable, optionally unmanned and must enter the fleet in time to replace today's aging fleet.
THE NAVY: DRAW - Loses no programs. Gains an accelerated timetable for a new generation of electronic attack aircraft, a new seaborne UAV, yet more F/A-18 Super Hornets and refurbishing of the Marine Corps' vehicle fleet. Most of the shipbuilding arrangements Gates announced, such as the littoral combat ship, already were decided.
THE MARINE CORPS: BIG LOSER - Not only does the Corps lose the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, as we covered in depth on Thursday, Gates announced that he is putting the F-35B on "probation" for the next two years. Gates said the jet is having many problems, ones that could necessitate "redesign of the aircraft's structure and propulsion" - read: a lot more money. If engineers can't get the F-35B right by the end of its probation, Gates said, he'd support canceling it. (But will he still be around then? Excellent question!)
- AMOS ENDORSED THE DEATH OF THE EFV, he said in a statement Thursday, while also emphasizing that the Marines must keep their ability to do forced-entry amphibious invasions. He wants to explore a new, cheaper amphibious transport that gets the job done but won't endure the cost and development struggles of the EFV. And Congress is spoiling for a fight about this - full coverage by DiMascio. Will Congress save the Marines? EFV? - Jen DiMascio - POLITICO.com
M-D PERSPECTIVE: ADVANTAGE SECDEF - Gates and Mullen emerged from Thursday's announcements like Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "The Sting:" There's nothing they can do about who walks up to their table (i.e. Congress) but for now, these guys are running the game. This year's official budget discussion is still weeks away, but now it will proceed on Gates's terms. And as House Republicans continue their splashy demonstrations - such as cutting $35 million from their own budget to show how serious they are on spending - the political table here appears to favor the dealers. For now.
HILL DEFENSE ADVOCATES BLASTED GATES'S ANNOUNCEMENT. But Republicans had to walk a tricky line, taking care to express support both for prudent spending and strong defense. Said McKeon: "I remain committed to applying more fiscal responsibility and accountability to the Department of Defense, but I will not stand idly by and watch the White House gut defense when Americans are deployed in harm's way."
Missouri's Todd Akin, chairman of the HASC seapower subcommittee, issued a statement that castigated the Obama administration for wanting to cut spending during wartime and remonstrated Gates for killing the EFV: "If the President and the Secretary of Defense want to get rid of the Marine Corps, they should come out and say that directly," he said. But in the very same press release, Akin also praised Gates for permitting the Navy to buy another batch of Boeing-made, Missouri-built F/A-18 Super Hornets. Akin and other Super Hornet supporters may well push for another multi-year deal to lock in all those jets.
All in all, Ewing conclude, Thursday was an eventful day.
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