News
Pentagon Spending Cuts: Dangerous Or Just Overdue?
The Pentagon says threatened budget cuts will invite aggression, endanger national security and devastate its operations/…/Panetta told senators in a letter this week that after a decade of the threatened cuts, the U.S. would have the smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest number of ships since 1915 and the smallest Air Force ever.But it's not about the numbers, according to Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Greater firepower and tonnage make today's naval fleet smaller but more powerful, he said
Army Aims To Save By ‘Buying Less, More Often’
White Sands Missile Range was the site of the first atomic-bomb test in 1945. Now the Army is using the New Mexico complex for a different kind of test: to see if it can get more bang for its buck/…/ The Army's Cold War-era approach of long-term weapons-development programs saw a string of high-profile failures in the past decade. In a report this year, the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments noted several multibillion-dollar equipment programs that never led to the fielding of any new items, including Comanche, a stealth helicopter effort that cost $7.9 billion, and Crusader, a $2.2 billion investment in a self-propelled artillery system.
Navy Arms Its First Unmanned Vehicle—Fire Scout
The Navy will place arming its fleet of Fire Scout drones with a modified Hydra rocket, heralding a new era in unmanned combat for the service.
Sequestration Drama Could Delay 2013 Budget
Lawmakers could wait to void automatic Pentagon cuts that a debt-panel failure would trigger until well after the 2012 election, meaning the final 2013 military spending bill would be passed months late, says a plugged-in defense think tank.
U.S. Military Retirees Fret About Healthcare Fees
In an era of government belt-tightening, support appears to be growing for reining in the spiraling expense of military healthcare. In recommendations to the budget-cutting congressional "super committee" in September, President Barack Obama proposed two steps to offset rising military healthcare costs/.../
U.S. Military Chiefs Warn Budget Cuts Will Cancel Weapons
The chiefs of the U.S. military said they may have to end new weapons programs, close bases and cut civilian personnel as early as next year if Congress allows about $1 trillion in defense cuts during the next decade. The heads of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, in testimony today before the House Armed Services Committee, joined Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in warning against the reductions.