The Department of Defense
In
the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) for FY13-17 the Army eliminates 8 Brigade Combat Teams, the Navy
eliminates 7 Cruisers and 2 Dock Landing Ships, the Air Force eliminates 7
Fighter Squadrons and reduces its aircraft inventory by 303 (123 combat
aircraft, 150 mobility and refueling aircraft, and 30 Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance aircraft) and the Marines eliminate 1 Infantry
HQ, 5 Infantry Battalions, 1 Artillery Battalion, 4 Tactical Air Squadrons, and
1 Combat Logistics Battalion. Army
end-strength will be reduced by 6.8%, Navy by 3.9%, Marine Corp by 8.3%, and Air
Force by 2.3%
The FY13 Defense Budget
$525.4
billion, the FY 2013 Base Budget provides a reduction of $5.2 billion from the
FY 2012 enacted level ($530.6 billion).
What are they spending it on?
$48.7
billion for the Unified Medical Budget covering 9.6 million beneficiaries. That is $5074 per beneficiary, slightly lower
than the national average of $5616
$1.6
billion for modernization of CH-47 helicopters, a heavy lift troop, cargo and
weapon transport. This provides upgraded
engines, avionics, and new airframes.
$300
million for 58 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles.
10
new ships: 2 Virginia-class attack submarines, 2 Destroyers, 1 Joint High-Speed
Vessel, 4 Littoral (shallow-water) combat ships, and 1 aircraft carrier.
$2.2
billion for 28 FA-18 aircraft
$1.1
billion for 12 EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft
$3.4
billion for standing up Cyber Command.
$8
billion for space programs, including GPS, missile warning, communications, and
launch facilities.
$300
million for the Next Generation Bomber
$2.7
billion for Strategic Deterrence (those would be nukes, folks)
$9.7
billion for Missile Defense
$1.4
billion for funding the Chemical & Biological Defense Program that includes
medical countermeasures (vaccines/antidotes), diagnostics, global
bio-surveillance, and non-traditional agent defense.
$2.3
billion for funding for cooperative threat reduction, mainly with the Russians.
$3
billion for Reserve Component equipment
$1
billion for Reserve Component construction
Overseas Contingency Operations
$88.5 billion, the FY 2013 budget request for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) at a decrease of $26.6 billion from the FY 2012 enacted level. These are your wars and this is in addition to the $525.4 billion above, not part of it.
What are they spending it on?
Operations:
$48.2 billion
Force
Protection: $5.1 billion
Defeating
IEDs: $1.7 billion
Military
Intelligence Program: $4.5 billion
Afghan
Security Forces Fund: $5.7 billion (for 352,000 Afghan National Security
Forces)
Afghan
Infrastructure Fund: $400 million
Support
for Coalition Forces: $2.2 billion
Equipment
Reset and Repair: $9.3 billion
What do you want to cut?
Please feel free to opine. For the sake of discussion, if you wish to propose a cut, please explain why, what you think the repercussion of that cut will be, and why those effects are acceptable. It's easy to be an armchair Comptroller and proclaim that the military budget needs to be slashed, cut 10, 20, or 30% or more. It's an entirely different thing to attempt to understand what that means and what the repercussions will be globally, nationally, and economically.
Cheers!
