Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Expect Even More Massive U.S. Defense Budget Cuts

Cartwright Targets F-35, AirSea Battle; Warns of $250B More Cuts -- Aol Defense

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: The Pentagon should brace for another $250 billion or more in cuts even if sequestration does not occur and must revolutionize how and what it buys, warned Hoss Cartwright, former vice-chairman of the Joint Staff, in a speech that savaged sacred cows from the Joint Strike Fighter to cybersecurity to the AirSea Battle concept.

"We just took a $480-some billion reduction" in the current budget proposal, Cartwright said at the annual Joint Warfighting Conference hosted by the US Naval Institute and the industry group AFCEA. "While we squeal a lot about that reduction, we were heading that way anyway," he said. Whether sequestration occurs or not, the pattern of past post-war drawdowns strongly suggest we're heading further down the budget cutting road. "$480 billion is about a 10 percent reduction," he said. "Historically we've run about 20% reductions after these conflicts. We're about halfway there."

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My Comment: Talk about being on message. The Joint Staff’s director of joint force development .... Marine Corps Lt. Gen. George J. Flynn .... is saying essentially the same thing.

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