Thoughts on the Proposed Military Budget

The overall budget will see a 4% increase (update: not as bad as I had thought) over the last Bush budget. It will also see the money spent in entirely different ways than previous budgets.

Let's take a look:

Mr. Gates said Monday he planned to halt new purchases of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet from Lockheed Martin Corp. after delivery of 187 of the aircraft already ordered. He also said there would be no more orders for Boeing Co. C-17 transport planes beyond the 205 planned.

I think this is a bad idea. The thinking of Gates is that we must turn our thoughts to asymmetrical warfare such as we are fighting against the Taliban and as we did in Iraq. That may or may not be the mission of the future. With Russia rebuilding their military and China nearing the point of being among the worlds elite in strength, we may have to fight a conventional battle some time in the future. The F-22 would be the plane that would help us win it. The F-15, F-16 and F-18 are aging and the Chinese are buying quality planes but more importantly are training quality pilots. They've developed some aircraft domestically including the J-10 and have also bought Russian SU-27's. Their pilots are not on a par with ours or the Israeli's but are definitely getting better.

Gates has requested increased funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (pictured above on an unknown carrier)and the Brits are buying some as well. This is the next generation of aircraft and it may make the decision to cut the F-22 look prescient. Time will tell.

More:

Other cancellations included an advanced satellite communications program, and the replacement of Air Force search-and-rescue helicopters. Shipbuilding is also getting trimmed, with the Navy holding off on a futuristic cruiser program. An older destroyer design will go back into production.

The cancellations of the satellite coms program and SAR copters should not significantly hurt our mission but cutting back on the new cruiser program just may. The Chinese have become much more adept on (and under) the seas. The Chinese Song sub is good and they have learned new tactics that have embarrassed us in the last few years. We most likely detected them but didn't want to risk an incident, yet they are getting bolder and smarter.

The PLAN began a vast modernization effort a few years ago and are looking to build a fleet that will be the regions best. They have suddenly warmed to the idea of building or buying a carrier and that could raise the stakes for Japan who has, until now, looked upon carriers as an "offensive weapon". The Chinese would not be able to project the power we currently do but in concert with the Russians could give us some indigestion. Although the Russians' carrier fleet is garbage and all but one have been scrapped, they will take another look at the idea in the future.

More:

Beyond military hardware, Mr. Gates said the Pentagon plans a 5% increase in the number of special operations forces, or 2,800 people. He called for plans to recruit more cyber-warfare experts, and to add Army helicopter pilots and maintenance crews, in a move that will help support operations in Afghanistan.

Mr. Gates also plans to hire more than 30,000 new civilian officials over the next five years, gradually reducing the number of contractors to 26% of the Pentagon work force, down from a current 39%.

I'm for increasing the special forces as long as the quality is not replaced by quantity. We have the best special forces in the world led by the Navy SEALs and to increase their number with inferior men would be a disgrace. As for the increase in civilian jobs, I worked for the military for ten years. There were good people and bad and as anyone knows, government is not the most efficient operation around. I think slapping contractors is a bad idea as they tend to attract and hold the brightest minds with better pay and benefits. A 13% cut is too much and it will take a few years for new civilian workers to even approach the work done by private firms. This smacks of the liberal tendency to trust government more than contractors and it has Obama's fingerprints all over it.

All in all, Gates' has an intriguing budget proposal. I'm guessing it will get whacked here and there but not to great effect. It is an increase and that was unexpected but Obama knows full-well that he's on the hook for Afghanistan now and he should thank the good Lord that Bush and Petraeus bailed him out on Iraq.

Update: Here's a previous post I did in 2005 on China Vs. the US if it ever came down to war.