Pentagon Eyeing Cuts in Weapons Programs

Published Nov 9, 2005 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

The Pentagon is considering as much as $15 billion in cuts to aircraft, shipbuilding, and other weapons purchases over the next year.

Analysts are concerned that reductions in defense spending could hamper efforts to replace equipment worn out in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and outdated Cold War-era weapons systems.

They also point out that cutting critical programs like the F/A-22 Raptor fighter or the Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation aircraft, could face resistance.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the DOD has to use its budgets wisely to ensure the country gets what it needs to fight both conventional conflicts and unconventional threats. Compounding the budget cuts are the record budget deficits. The federal government ended fiscal 2005 on September 30th with a shortfall of $319 billion, the third largest ever.

The DOD is looking to trim $12 billion to $15 billion from previous plans to spend $443 billion in 2007. Defense contractors have cited similar figures. The Army, Navy, and Air Force would be responsible for cutting as much as $3 billion to $5 billion each, analysts said. It is projected that the budget cuts would slice approximately 3 percent from each of the military services' 2007 budgets.

Among the programs being considered for significant cuts or delays are the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's next generation, all-purpose fighter, which is built in Texas; the C-17 transport plane, which is built in California; the Navy's new and expensive DD(X) destroyer, being built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, and a reconnaissance aircraft, which has had a number of problems, called the Aerial Common Sensor, being developed by a team led by Lockheed Martin.

Military contractors are bracing for the cuts and face the possibilities of the elimination of entire programs. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Marine Lt. Col. Rose-Ann Lynch, said no decisions have been made on the fiscal year 2007 budget, which will be unveiled next February. But she said all the military services and Pentagon departments have been asked to think about possible changes, and "all options are on the table."

Under the current defense budget, weapons purchases - for everything from fighter jets and destroyers to communication systems - would increase from about $78 billion in 2006 to $91.6 billion in 2007. Pentagon officials are looking to shave as much as $15 billion from the planned $91.6 billion, triggering what would be a rare reduction in procurement levels.