It is a balanced package, the secretary said, because while some programs are eliminated or delayed, others are increased. The budget looks to re-shape the military to be more agile, quick and flexible that incorporates the lessons learned in 10 years of war, he added.
The big “lessons learned” from Operations: USELESS DIRT 1 and 2 is that we wasted a lot of time and resources that could have been spent to give the military enhanced defense capability to fight real threats to the nation.
The budget treats the reserve components very carefully, Panetta said. After a decade of being an integral part of America’s wars, the reserve components will not go back to being a strategic Cold War-era reserve. The reserves will be the nation’s hedge against the unexpected, the secretary said.
Only a decade? He must have missed all of the Reserve and Guard deployments from the end of the Cold War until 9/11. Go back to sleep Mr. Panetta. Since the end of the Cold War, Reserve and Guard resources have been doing work that should have been done by a properly manned active force. When you have repeat cycles of Reserve and Guard foreign deployments they are really no longer a Reserve or Guard.
The Navy will retire seven older cruisers and two amphibious ships early, and the Air Force will eliminate six tactical air squadrons.
Not a bad idea, but their capability will be replaced by the Littoral Combat Ship, a technologically risky new variant of the Burke and the fighters will be replaced by a poor idea known as the F-35. None of this is what you want in the Pacific Rim.
The F-35 joint strike fighter is key to maintaining domain superiority,
No it is not. And with its ill-health, it’s future is doubtful. It takes money away from other needy and valid defense communities.
The budget will maintain all legs of the nuclear triad -- bombers, ICBMs and submarines -- and will invest in significantly more capability in the cyber world, Panetta said.We need new nuclear weapons to replace the old stock. As long as Microsoft is used on prime DOD communities, the idea that one wants to fight a cyber war means there will be some unnecessarily messy battles.
“My hope is that when members understand the sacrifice involved in reducing the defense budget by half a trillion dollars, it will convince Congress to avoid sequestration, a further round of cuts that would inflict severe damage to our national defense for generations,” Panetta said.The reality is: this is an election year. And, there is a lot more dead-wood to be cut.
7 comments:
I'm curious how eliminating surface combatant ships equipped with long range radar surveillance and ability to deter when armed with Tomahawks, in addition to eliminating tactical air squadrons, will make the military more agile and flexible? Just because you have a year over year lighter force doesn't make it more 'agile and flexible' whatever that means.
As ELP notes, the few LCS won't be able to compensate for lost cruisers and the rapidly shrinking F-35 acquisition schedule (per default, not per requirement) is highly speculative, risky and remains an uncertainty.
The main strategy should be to increase muscle and flexible, cross-service deterrence capabilities to offset fat being cut out... the result will be a more agile and lean force structure by default. One could perceive the goals to be mixed up here.
Heretic here.
Replacing cruisers with the Not A Frigate seems to be the epitome of Bass Ackwardness. And retiring Amphibs ... because they have Nothing To Do ... in the Pacific? Really? The amphibs are in such little demand? Or is there a plan to start building new amphibious ships to replace the ones being "retired early" in the works (because I sure haven't heard of one)?
God knows we wouldn't want to talk about reducing the number of Super Carriers sailing the seas. Or reducing the huge amount of money being spent on the Joint PowerPoint Fighter
Also lets not talk about killing the thin skinned and under armed LSC just because it happens to be of questionable strategic value.
But hey according to certain "experts" the LCS is oh so affordable, so WTF? Let's buy a couple hundred, they'll go well with our semi-functional F-35's and their vaporware capabilities.
Politics and bullshit no doubt.
11 Super Carriers - Congressional mandate for 11 ships. No one wants to tangle with it in an election year.
LCS - Supposedly a great ship that can be sold to allies for joint ops. Sounds like lobbying for jobs.
Eliminate Cruisers - Thats because Arleigh Burke iii's can do the job. Really, the new AMDR Aegis radars "bloat" the hull.
F35 - How will the minuscule number be sufficient? That's assuming they are even combat ready. F18's rooling off the Boeing assembly at $46M a pop vs $150?? Doesn't sound like a deal.
Bottom Line:
Even with the cuts to the DoD budget. The budget is still significantly higher than pre-9/11. The problem is that almost every program has become a bloated, wasteful, poorly managed affair. When the US should still dominate with a budget equivalent to it's next 12 opponents. That includes allies. It squanders money due to politics, lobbying and general mis-management.
I'm sure that in another reality, these oh-so dreadful "vital capability losses" might actually be cause for some concern, but in THIS reality, ie; the one where the economies of China and the US are inextricably joined at the hip - the only thing really at risk is what little remains in the taxpayer's pocket. Cuz there ain't gonna be no full scale war with ANY modern industrial state, much less with the PRC. The self-serving 'AirSea Battle' doctrine-of-the- month hype to the contrary...
JRL
Take a look through history and it's quite clear that having economic and business ties rarely prevents war.
We're a sophisticated version of the apes with need to protect our territory and factors like racial extraction, religion, and "national" pride factor greatly in the decision to make war.
With China we have a group of controlling power hungry communist leaders and a military spoiling for recognition.
Not a great combo!
I´m amazed by those brilliant minds in Pentagon. Panetta shows he is another clown in charge, unable to think outside of the box and bring real change. LCS is one wrong step, F-35 is The Mother of All Fubars. The force is becoming lighter and less capable every year, USAF fighter fleet will be good for museums in couple of years (F-15C already are), no invention, no new bodydesigns, no creative thinking, no audacity. "Failing to prepare is preparig to fail", should be the motto of DoD, as they work hard on being busted by somebody soon after 2020. Empire in another stage of decline.
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