Defense Secretary Gates is warning about potentially big cuts in weapons systems in the near future. He is also looking at changes to budget priorities to better fight the wars we have today and expect to see tomorrow- insurgencies, homeland security issues like bio-weapons, failed states, etc.
A lot of what he is talking about seems to make sense to me, but I don't really follow this stuff closely enough to know. They are talking about canceling the F-22, for instance. I know it's an expensive plane, but my impression is we need to build new planes as our current planes age. New destroyers, etc. are big ticket items, too. We should be prioritizing technology for people on the ground in harm's way, IMHO. The MRAP has demonstrated its worth, as Bruce has blogged about, and that's a very cheap piece of technology in military terms. What else can we do for the guys on the ground and in close air support? Better armor and defensive systems for choppers, for instance, if that's possible. At the same time, we can't operate in places like Iraq and Afghanistan without superiority in space, air, and seas. Time for hard budget decisions. Opinions? http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/17/gates_readies_big_cuts_in_weapons/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:292094 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
