Apparently there are some budget cuts looming over the horizon for the DoD. The article excerpt below describes the situation in very gloomy terms, such as "painful adjustments," "pressure" and an absence of "relief." Gosh, sounds like an unsuccessful trip to a chiropractor to me.
I think it's actually good news. Sure, I'm a glass-is-half-full kinda guy to start with. I'm also convinced that constraints foster creativity, and times of financial belt-tightening tend to produce (nay, demand) innovation. Those of us who hold to the FIST value set should be cheered and encouraged by this budgetary development.
So I'm all for reductions in spending on new weapon systems. Not for political reasons, but for reasons that are almost purely technical. Yes, it's possible to cut too deeply into the budget, but as far as I can tell, we're nowhere close to that limit. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of essential innovations will be produced once the budgets get a bit smaller.
October 28, 2009
Reed: Pentagon Should Prep For Cuts
By Roxana Tiron
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), an Army veteran and senior defense authorizer, on Wednesday said that the Pentagon will have to face "painful adjustments" in its budget.
Reed, the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Seapower panel, indicated that weapons modernization will suffer in years to come as a result of military operations in Afghanistan, but also because of the economic crisis.
"There is going to be significant pressure on the defense budget going forward. [...] I do not think there is going to be much relief on the personnel front ... so the likely path is to push and delay platforms that you do not think are absolutely essential," he said. Additionally, he said, weapons programs that continue likely will have to be reduced and bought in smaller numbers, in what will be "painful adjustments" for the Department of Defense.
2 comments:
Yes! We stand up and cheer here at New Wars. Hopefully now, everything will be prioritzed, spent only on what is needed. No more luxuries. It might be working.
@Mike - Yeah, I had to chuckle at the bit about delaying projects that aren't essential.
Um, why not push them off indefinitely, and only do the really important stuff in the first place? I mean, if two concurrent wars aren't enough to clarify our priorities, what is?
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