Gates Eyes More F-22s, Nine Carrier Battle Groups, Dissolving MDA (Updated)
(Editor's note: the story has been updated to note that a possible cut to the Navy's carrier fleet would be temporary.)
April 3, 2009 -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set on Monday to announce changes to the military services' weapon system programs, including the restructuring of the Army's Future Combat Systems program, purchases of more Air Force F-22s and a decision to shrink the number of aircraft carrier battle groups to nine, according to sources close to the budget process.
A major bureaucratic change also being considered as part of the administration's revision of the FY-10 defense budget request is the dismantlement of much of the Missile Defense Agency -- an organization formed by President Reagan -- by farming out its procurement programs to the military services and, possibly, leaving the entity to perform only research and development.
The revisions to the Pentagon's fiscal year 2010 budget request -- which Gates is due to brief Congress on Monday morning and to the press that afternoon -- are expected to be framed as the opening moves of a sweeping assessment of the U.S. military, the Quadrennial Defense Review, which will continue through the summer. The QDR is seen as the means by which the defense secretary aims to reshape the Defense Department.
The highly anticipated announcement about what modernization programs are being jettisoned or trimmed in the Pentagon's $1.6 trillion weapon system modernization portfolio will bring to a close a sweeping revision of the FY-10 budget begun in mid-February and conducted in unusual secrecy.
Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Darryn James said today that no decisions on the FY-10 budget are yet final. Gates last month warned that all reports of changes to the budget that leaked out before his announcement would be untrustworthy.
Still, reliable sources say a number of decisions appear to be taking shape.
Among the changes likely to be forthcoming, according to sources, are another significant restructuring of the Army's Future Combat Systems, which would leave the program with just two ground vehicles. Also on tap is the possible termination of the Air Force's Transformational Communications Satellite program, which is key to the FCS network.
Other terminations could include the Navy-managed VH-71 presidential helicopter program, sources said, as well as the Air Force's Airborne Laser program.
A delay in fielding the Ford-class aircraft carrier could temporarily reduce the number of carrier strike groups to as few as nine near the end of the Pentagon's five-year investment plan, sources said. The Navy currently operates 11 aircraft carrier strike groups and would aim to retain 10.
Another possible termination is the DDG-1000 next-generation destroyer program, which the Navy last year sought to truncate.
In addition, sources said the Air Force could receive funding for an additional 67 F-22s, a decision that would extend production of the fighter aircraft for three years and “cap” the total buy at 250 aircraft -- up from the current plan to buy 183. -- Jason Sherman