By Emelie Rutherford
A think tank with close ties to President-elect Barack Obama is calling for slowing work on the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization effort, pausing development of the ground-based missile-defense system, and quashing Pentagon programs including the DDG-1000 destroyer and F-22 jet fighter.
The Center for American Progress (CAP)–whose president, John Podesta, is on leave while running Obama’s transition team–recommends “eliminating weapons systems designed to deal with threats from a bygone era” to help free up $24.75 billion for equipment reset and grow-the-force efforts over the next four years.
In the “Building a Military for the 21st Century” report released Wednesday, the center advises increasing the Defense Department budget only for inflation over the next four years, prioritizing people over hardware, and emphasizing investment in systems for non-traditional warfare while weighing diminished budgets.
The report warns Obama will inherit an out-of-control defense budget that “devoid of spending limits and priorities has created an environment where the services have not had to make trade-offs or difficult decisions when it comes to operations and support, and acquisitions programs.”
Author Lawrence Korb, a former Reagan Pentagon official who has advised Obama, unveiled the report along with defense-minded officials–including House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.), House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), and Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes–who gave their own takes on defense programs.
The CAP report advises the Obama administration “slow down” the Army’s FCS program that is developing networked manned and unmanned systems. It recommends decreasing from 15 to 10 the number of brigades that would be outfitted with the technology by 2030. By also freezing FCS funding at the current level of $3.6 billion the next four years, CAP estimates the Army could save roughly $4.8 billion.
The report says that “budget constraints and FCS’ focus on replacing tanks and other conventional weapons may lead the next administration to conclude that the program is developing too quickly and at too great a cost, with not enough demonstrable benefit for counterinsurgency operations.”
Speakes acknowledged the scrutiny FCS is under, but said he is “absolutely” optimistic the Army will deliver the planned FCS capabilities, and thus garner continued support for its current plans.
“If we don’t demonstrate that we’re meeting our promises and able to show capability that is legitimately needed by warfighters, then there won’t be support; We think the converse is true,” the Army official told Defense Daily, noting Murtha’s comments the same day in support of FCS, as well as soldiers’ positive feedback to prototypes.
The CAP report also recommends significant changes to Bush administration missile defense plans, in order to save $13.15 billion over the next four years.
It calls for canceling the Pentagon’s “unproven missile defense programs”–including the Airborne Laser, Kinetic Energy Interceptor, Space Tracking and Surveillance System, and Multiple Kill Vehicle–and stopping further development of the ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system “until it proves itself in realistic operational tests.” Stopping further deployment of the GMD system would mean halting construction of missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
“The United States military would not field an aircraft that does not fly or a ship that does not float, and it should not deploy a missile defense system that has not been proven to work properly,” the report says.
Congressional Republicans have argued a GMD test last week was indeed successful and strengthens the case for the European site.
Murtha said Wednesday that he recently visited the Czech Republic and believes the proposed radar site there is needed, but he has not made up his mind regarding deploying interceptors in Poland, which his staff visited.
The question of proceeding with the so-called third site in Europe is “a very complicated thing,” the powerful defense appropriator told the CAP gathering. “I see the need, in a sense, but I also see that political ramification. I think the Obama people have to really look at this issue. Can we do it from the sea? Can the ships handle this same capability that we were doing from there? Would we have ships in the right place at the right time? All those questions have to be answered.”
The CAP report recommends canceling the Navy’s DDG-1000 destroyer program at the two ships on contract, and instead building two of the older DDG-51 destroyers each year for the next four years. The think tank estimates the move, similar to what the Navy has eyed, would save $2.8 billion.
The move “would serve both conventional and irregular strategies,” the report says. Debate over which destroyer to build is likely to be heated in the next session of Congress.
Sestak told reporters he still is investigating why Navy support for the DDG-1000 declined this year, and whether the ship program truly should be ended. A former Navy three-star admiral, Sestak said he has been briefed on intelligence showing emerging threats, including ballistic missiles, that prompted the Navy’s move toward the DDG-51.
“I want someone now to come forward and say, ‘I’ve seen what that intelligence said, how good it is an all that, and when it’s likely to appear,’ (and also explain), which I haven’t had (explained) in detail, why can’t the DDG-1000 handle it, as compared to the 51,” Sestak said. “I’d like to see the actual numbers.”
The CAP report also recommends the Obama Pentagon:
- immediately end production of the F-22 stealth fighter at 183 jets;
- cancel the Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey and substitute cheaper helicopters while continuing production of the Air Force’s CV-22;
- delay production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle in favor of buying Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles;
- cancel the LPD-26 amphibious ship and proceed with the Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future);
- build more C-17 cargo aircraft;
- keep SSN-774 attack submarine production at one per year, instead of increasing to two per year in FY ’13; and
- delay full-scale production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter until flight tests have completed.