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Pentagon May Cut Weapons Programs
EFL...[snip]... While Rumsfeld and other military officials declined to talk about specific spending decisions, defense analyst Loren Thompson said Gordon England, the acting deputy defense secretary, 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, Thompson said. ...[snip]... Overall, the cuts would slice about 3 percent from each of the services' 2007 budgets that were envisioned last year. 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 called the Aerial Common Sensor, which is being developed by a team led by Lockheed Martin and has had a number of problems. ...[snip]... 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 â for everything from fighter jets and destroyers to communication systems â 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. ...[snip]... Different versions of the Joint Strike Fighter are being developed for the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines, and there have been discussions that one of the models could be eliminated. The Pentagon also could delay the development of the next generation aircraft carrier â the CVN 21 â which is scheduled to begin construction in 2007. Posted by: Fleger Sneretch6943 2005-11-04 |
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