Defense Secretary Gates Announces Detailed FY10 Defense Budget
This afternoon Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced details of the $537 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2010 that he has submitted to President Obama. Gates proposes to grow the size of the Army and Marine Corps at a cost of an additional $11 billion and purchasing 16 additional F-35 joint strike fighter jets , at a cost of $4.5 billion, and also proposes to end production of the F-22 stealth fighter jet at 187—four additional planes beyond what is now on order. Secretary Gates seeks savings of $6.5 billion by terminating the VH-71 presidential helicopter, another $1.4 billion by reducing the budget of the Missile Defense Agency, and an as yet unspecified amount by canceling, re-evaluating and if necessary re-bidding the $87 billion vehicle portion of the Future Combat Systems.
Secretary Gates is on target when he speaks of the need for procurement reform. "We must constantly guard against so-called ‘requirements creep,’ validate the maturity of technology at milestones, fund programs to independent cost estimates, and demand stricter contract terms and conditions,” he said. These are welcome remarks, but make no mistake they do not represent major reform.
The defense portion of the U.S. budget continues to be about half of all discretionary spending. The United States spends more money on defense than any other country in the world—48 percent of all world expenditures and more than the next 25 highest countries combined. What’s more, some of the talk of cutting weapons programs was misleading. Stopping production of the F-22 at 187, down from the 381 planes originally ordered does not represent cost savings. Why? Because the unit cost of the F-22 is 177 percent of what was originally projected, and over time the number of planes ordered has been reduced while the overall price tag of the program has remained the same. Click here for more from our colleagues at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Sincerely,
Krisila Benson
Project Director
Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities
Center for American Progress
