(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - April 7, 2009: The Pentagon should kill the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) armored vehicle program and l
aunch a new competition for ground vehicles, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters April 6.
(Photo: A U.S. Army Non-Line-of-Sight-Cannon fires at the Yuma, Ariz., test range.) (ARMY)
Gates revealed his FCS recommendation amid a slew of others for cuts and changes to weapons programs that will go to the White House as it shapes the 2010 budget request to Congress.
The plan signals the Obama administration's desire to stop production of several platforms, such as the F-22 fighter; terminate others, such as the Transformational Satellite initiative; limit several, such as FCS and the DDG 1000 destroyer; and put off a final decision for others, such as a new Air Force long-range bomber, pending the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review.
The 2010 budget also will seek to buy more existing weapons such as F/A-18 fighters, Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites and DDG 51 destroyers.
Just before Gates began his hour-long session with reporters, Defense officials informed key lawmakers of his plans for the 2010 spending request. And even before the media briefing had concluded, lawmakers were issuing statements defending programs important to their districts and states.
Several lawmakers who chair important defense committees on Capitol Hill said some of Gates' changes might not stick.
"Secretary Gates has set out major changes to the defense budget based on changed assumptions about the wars our military must be prepared to fight. This is a good-faith effort, and I appreciate the hard work and thoughtful consideration Secretary Gates and his staff put into these proposals," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said in a statement.
"However, the buck stops with Congress, which has the critical Constitutional responsibility to decide whether to support these proposals," Skelton said. "In the weeks ahead, my colleagues and I will carefully consider these proposals and look forward to working with Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen as we prepare the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization act."
Gates said the 2010 budget request will recommend that:
* The Air Force cap its F-22 Raptor program at 187 jets. Gates said "all the military advice," including from the Air Force, he received over the past few months indicated that "there is no requirement for more than 187" Lockheed Martin-made Raptors. Under its now-replaced Bush-era leadership, the Air Force had long said it needed 381 of the stealthy fighters. The budget will propose retiring 250 "of the oldest Air Force tactical fighter aircraft in FY-10," Gates said.
* The Pentagon accelerate the Lockheed-made F-35 Lightning II strike fighter program, and purchase a total of 2,443 for the Air Force, Navy and Marines. The decision to speed the F-35 program, Gates said in his opening statement, was his desire to build "a fifth-generation tactical fighter capability that can be produced in quantity at sustainable cost. The Pentagon's budget plan will propose buying 513 Lightning IIs over the next five years, aiming to keep overall program costs down, including costs for Washington's international F-35 partners, Gates said.
* The VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program be canceled and work begins with the White House this summer on a new program, with a new competition. Gates said the existing fleet "has some life left," giving officials time to reshape the program and field a new fleet before the existing one wears out.
* The Navy proceed with acquiring more Boeing-built F/A-18 fighters. The sea service has talked about a "fighter gap," which naval officials say would be partially filled by acquiring more F/A-18s. The 2010 budget will propose buying 31 more.
* The Navy cap its DDG 1000 program at three ships to be built at Bath Iron Works in Maine, while restarting DDG 51 efforts by Northrop Grumman at its Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. He did not put a number on how many additional DDG 51s the Pentagon will aim to purchase. Gates was clearly worried about the ability of the Navy and industry to "smoothly" hammer out the contractual details of making this plan work.
"Even if these arrangements don't work out, the DDG 1000 program would end with the third ship and the DDG 51 would continue to be built in both yards," Gates said. If the Pentagon and industry are unable to turn Gates' plan into contractual reality, he said, "the department will likely build only a single prototype DDG 1000 at Bath and then review our options for restarting production of the DDG 51." The latter, Gates warned, would limit the number of ships the Navy could buy "and cut workload in both shipyards."
* The Air Force put off a program to build a new long-range bomber until, as the secretary said, "more is known" about the operational requirement for it and the technologies needed to meet the full slate of requirements.
* The Air Force kill the Transformational Satellite program and instead buy two more Extremely High Frequency communications satellites.
* The Air Force cancel the long-stalled CSAR-X search-and-rescue helicopter program. Gates said he is interested in studying whether the program should be revived as a joint program, aiming to purchase one new platform to be used by several services instead of multiple helicopters for multiple services.
* The Air Force kill the second Airborne Laser airplane while keeping the first one for research-and-development work.
* The Army cap its Brigade Combat Teams at 45, not 48.
* The Defense Department reduce the proportion of its work done by contractors from 37 percent to the mid-20s.
* DoD convert 11,000 acquisition contracting jobs to Defense Department civilians, then hire 9,000 more acquisition officers, while also hiring as many as 30,000 new civil servants over five years to replace so-called "support contractors" from the private sector. Gates said the 2010 budget will propose hiring 13,000 of those next year.
Gates also said he plans to re-open bidding this summer for a multibillion contract to build a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, and that he opposed a split buy.
"I still believe that it is not the best deal for the taxpayer to go with a split buy," he said.
As for FCS, the secretary said the vehicles, which are being designed to avoid attacks instead of withstand them, were not geared to address combat of the sort taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Several prototypes of the eight planned Manned Ground Vehicles (MGVs) have been built featuring lightweight composite armor, active protection systems, hybrid-electric propulsion systems and rubberlike band tracks. In total, the Army had planned for eight variants. The MGVs were slated to begin fielding in 2015.
Gates did, however, leave the door open for redesigned FCS armored vehicles to emerge in the months and years ahead.
The secretary said the FCS spin-out technologies would remain on schedule for a 2011 delivery. The spinouts include communications for individual soldiers, small robots, small UAVs, small sensors and guided rockets.
At least $87 billion had been planned for the FCS vehicles, which were a centerpiece of the $160 billion effort run by Boeing and SAIC.
aunch a new competition for ground vehicles, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters April 6.
(Photo: A U.S. Army Non-Line-of-Sight-Cannon fires at the Yuma, Ariz., test range.) (ARMY)
Gates revealed his FCS recommendation amid a slew of others for cuts and changes to weapons programs that will go to the White House as it shapes the 2010 budget request to Congress.
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