The Pentagon will reduce the Army and Marine Corps, retire some programs, and delay others, but increase special operation forces as part of its 2013 defense budget request, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday at a Pentagon news conference.
The proposal seeks to streamline the defense forces inline with projected 21st century security demands, while meeting calls for cut backs to defense spending, Panetta said.
“I believe we have developed a very complete package designed to achieve our strategic aims.”
The Army will be reduced by 70,000 to a force of 490,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 20,000 to 182,000 active-duty members, but the numbers were still higher than before 9/11, the secretary said.
In line with predicted security demands for the future, the number of special operations forces would increase, while a body of experienced reserves would be retained as the nation’s “hedge against the unexpected,” Panetta said.
The proposal contains some “risks” and had involved “a series of tough budget choices” but would ultimately reshape the military to be more mobile, quick, and flexible, the secretary said.
The budget will retain America’s military commitment to the Pacific region in the form of 11 aircraft carriers and 10 carrier air wings, the current Marine and Army posture remaining in the Asia-Pacific region along with bases of “littoral combat ships” in Singapore and Bahrain.
Two forward-based U.S. Army heavy brigades would however be eliminated in Europe; the brigades instead rotating in and out of the area, according to a Department of Defense (DOD)statement.
The United States and European allies also will look to share costs for new capabilities such as the alliance ground surveillance program.
“The Navy will retire seven older cruisers and two amphibious ships early, and the Air Force will eliminate six tactical air squadrons,” the statement said.
The budget request was formulated in response to the defense strategic guidance that President Barack Obama announced earlier this month.
If approved by Congress, the budget will save $259 billion over the next five years and $487 billion over the next 10 years as required by the Budget Control Act.
Panetta said people were the “great strength of U.S. military,” however, escalating costs on personnel would have to be addressed to meet fiscal demands.
While health care for active duty personnel and their families would remain, inflation had far outpaced health care and that will have to change, he said.
Service members will receive their full pay raises in fiscal 2013 and 2014, the secretary told reporters at a briefing on the budget, adding, “We will achieve some cost savings by providing more limited pay raises beginning in 2015.”
Concerns of vulnerability
Republican Sen. John McCain said the cuts leave America exposed at a time when security challenges “are more daunting than at any time in recent memory.”
“I am deeply concerned that the size and scope of these cuts would repeat the mistakes of history and leave our forces too small to respond effectively to events that may unfold over the next few years,” he said in a statement.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he believed “Capability is more important than size.”
“We get leaner. But this budget does not lead to a military in decline,” he said. “It leads to a joint force that is global and networked, that is versatile and innovative, that is ably led and that is always ready.”
Panetta told reporters spending would continue on cybercapabilities and technologies, including a next generation bomber fleet, the stealth bomber, and modernization of the submarine fleet.
All legs of the nuclear triad—bombers, ICBMs and submarines—would also continue.
The DOD still remained committed to the F-35 joint strike fighter, Panetta said, “But in this budget, we have slowed procurement to complete more testing and allow for developmental changes before buying in significant quantities.”
According to Panetta, the 2013 defense budget was based on a strategy that would shape U.S. defense forces for the future. The defense secretary said that he understood the difficulties Congress faced in accepting cuts in defense spending but it would test whether deficit reduction was “about talk or action.”
“My hope is that when members understand the sacrifice involved in reducing the defense budget by half a trillion dollars, it will convince Congress to avoid sequestration, a further round of cuts that would inflict severe damage to our national defense for generations,” Panetta said.
