It's going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight. And because he tried to ease people into it by taking a couple years to switch things up, its going to get ugly with Congress members firing his own quotes back at him from when he defended various platforms. Not many surprises, most changes have been leaked for weeks:AF
- F-22's hold at 187
- Increase F-35 purchase
- More ISR aircraft
- Tankers getting punted to next year
- C-17 production will end at 205, I guess that's enough
- CVN's cut to 10
- LCS procurement gets expanded, along with JHSV
- FCS family of vehicles is done, but the toys developed to support it remain
- The BCT shell game is being put on hold, we stay at 45 versus increasing to the theoretical 48
- Increased funding to fly and maintain helicopter support
- Delay of 11th LPD and the MLP
- And if FCS vehicles got the axe, it can't be healthy for EFV
- Missle Defense Agency rightfully gets castrated, with a change in focus from strategic to theatre
- Beginning selection of a new SSBN . . . given the expense of that platform, seems a strange time to start on that
- Other programs awaiting evaluation given the President's moves to restart strategic arms limitation talks
- Taking all those independent contractors and moving them onto the regular civilian payroll, doesn't change much other than increasing accountability and transparency, which is a very good thing
2 comments:
"Taking all those independent contractors and moving them onto the regular civilian payroll, doesn't change much"
Disagree. I am one of these contractors. I know full well how much I make, and how much the govt pays...
A good point, I meant from the Pentagon's perspective solely.
I agree fundamentally with what I believe to be an attempt to improve transparency and accountability regarding contracting. But this will definitely hurt you guys come pay day. And the resulting costs in morale and quality of personnel probably haven't been thought out as well as they should be.
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