U.S. To Cut Upcoming Purchase of F-35 By 179 Jets, Pushing That Buy To Later Years To Save Money

Reuters news service is reporting on the Pentagon’s new spending plans, soon to be unveiled, that will help the U.S. military deal with the ongoing pressure to save money/cut back on spending.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the number of combat brigades stationed in Europe would be cut in half, from four to two. Some analysts are already predicting that the overall size of the U.S. Army, slated to drop to 520,000 by 2016, could be further reduced to 490,000.

Here is what Reuters is now reporting:

- Lockheed’s F-35 jet fighter program, the Pentagon’s largest at $382 billion, will face its third restructuring in three years, with officials slashing 179 jets from the five-year budget and pushing their purchase to later years at a savings of more than $20 billion.

- The Navy will maintain a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, but has not clarified if it will award a contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries for the next carrier on schedule.

- The Navy will retire seven aging cruisers and several amphibious warships, saving money on increasingly expensive maintenance and upgrades.

- It will also propose multiyear procurements of more DDG-51 destroyers and Virginia-class submarines, both built by General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls, moves that could save about $4 billion by allowing bulk purchases of materials.

- The Navy will also propose a multiyear procurement for more V-22 Ospreys, a tiltrotor aircraft built by Boeing Co and Textron Inc’s Bell Helicopter unit that flies like a plane but takes off and like a helicopter.

- The Air Force will lose several programs, including upgrades to its C-130 cargo planes being done by Boeing Co, a troubled weather satellite being built by Northrop, and a new helicopter to replace the Bell UH-1N, which provides security to U.S. nuclear ballistic missile fields.

- The Air Force will continue design work on a new bomber and get two additional orders for a Lockheed communications satellite, and one more Lockheed missile warning satellite.

- The Army would rebalance its mix of active duty troops and the National Guard and Reserve, which cost less to fund but can be called up more rapidly than reconstituting a force from scratch.

- The Army’s new software-based radio being developed for use in ground vehicles is expected to be canceled, although the handheld version of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) will survive.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen  
Author: Defence Watch