April 6, 2009 -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates today unveiled an ambitious program to begin realigning the Pentagon's modernization plans with his vision of a reshaped U.S. military as well as to put the defense bureaucracy on a "war footing" to better support current operations.
In addition to shaking up a wide array of programs -- including missile defense, tactical aviation, shipbuilding, Army modernization and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts -- the defense secretary outlined plans to include in the Pentagon's base budget an increase of $3 billion to fund top priorities of combatant commanders.
Among the major decisions, Gates delivered a final verdict on the fate of the F-22 program; he will recommend that President Obama and Congress not extend F-22 production program beyond 187 aircraft. He also wants to trim the total number of planned Army brigade combat teams to 45 -- a reduction of three -- and slow future buys of several major surface-combatant ship programs.
“Collectively, they represent a budget crafted to reshape the priorities of America’s defense establishment,” Gates said of changes to the fiscal year 2010 budget he is proposing. “If approved, these recommendations will profoundly reform how this department does business.”
Gates informed reporters of his plans only hours after briefing Pentagon leaders and key lawmakers.
“We must rebalance this department’s programs in order to institutionalize and enhance our capabilities to fight the wars we are in today and the scenarios we are most likely to face in the years ahead, while at the same time providing a hedge against other risks and contingencies,” Gates said.
Decisions on what programs to truncate and overhaul were also driven by a desire to use the FY-10 budget request to begin implementing a “fundamental overhaul of our approach to procurement, acquisition, and contracting,” he said.
Gates said the budget review has produced as many as a dozen issues that will be explored during the Quadrennial Defense Review, a sweeping assessment of the U.S. military set to begin this summer.
The defense secretary said he will use the FY-10 base budget to put the defense bureaucracy on a “war footing” by funding programs requested by combatant commanders that have in the past been funded through war cost appropriations.
The Pentagon's FY-10 budget will include a $2 billion boost in funding for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs in the base budget as well as a $500 million increase to train and equip foreign military forces -- both high priorities of combatant commanders.
In addition, the Navy will boost its buy of Littoral Combat Ships from two to three in FY-10, and the Pentagon will double the number of Joint High Speed Vessels its charters from two to four -- bolstering a capability that Pentagon sources say combatant commanders regularly request.
The decision to terminate, restructure and slow procurement for a range of programs will leave Pentagon officials to grapple in the QDR with how to address the remaining requirements for those capabilities.
Terminated projects in Gates' FY-10 budget proposal include: the Air Force's next-generation bomber; the Air Force Transformational Satellite program; the Air Force's Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter program; the Navy-managed VH-71 presidential helicopter program; and the Multiple Kill Vehicle program.
One of the most significant programs slated for restructuring is the Army's marquee modernization project, the Future Combat Systems program, an effort that began as a replacement for the main battle tank that will now be stripped of all its planned ground vehicles.
Overarching missile defense efforts, Gates said, would under his proposal be restructured to focus on rogue states and theater missile threats, halting procurement of the Airborne Laser program to a single aircraft and shifting the balance of the program to research and development efforts.
The new budget proposal would also slow production of a number of major surface-combatant ships programs, putting aircraft carrier production on a five-year cycle, a move that would result by 2040 in a fleet with 10 aircraft carrier strike groups, one fewer that today.
Gates, who succeeded in keeping many details of the FY-10 budget under wraps until today, must now convince the White House Office of Management and Budget to include them in the final version of the FY-10 budget request to be sent to Congress next month, and convince lawmakers of the necessity of the proposed changes, which could reduce jobs in the districts of some legislators.
The decision to cap procurement of the F-22 at 187 aircraft -- which would include seeking funding for an additional four in the FY-09 supplemental -- followed a recommendation by the Air Force to end the program, Gates said. In addition, the FY-10 budget review reaffirmed the long-standing position by the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the total number of C-17 cargo aircraft the military needs: 205. The defense secretary said no additional C-17s beyond those in the FY-09 budget are required.
While the FY-10 budget will include funds to begin winding the F-22 program down, the Pentagon left unchanged its FY-10 plans to buy 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters -- 12 for the Air Force and 18 for the Navy and Marine Corps. Gates said the new five-year spending plan would fund the acquisition of 513 of the new fighters, a sum that suggests the Defense Department plans to accelerate purchases beyond FY-10.
The new budget will pump an additional $700 million into programs that defend against theater ballistic missile attack, specifically the Theater High Altitude Area Defense and the Standard Missile-3 programs. An additional $200 million in the FY-10 budget would pay to convert six additional Aegis ships to defend against a ballistic missile attack, Gates said.
The Air Force will push ahead this summer with a new competition for a fleet of aerial refueling aircraft, a major procurement effort that Gates said he does not want to see split between two different aircraft builders, as some in Congress would like. -- Jason Sherman