PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Terrorist threats and power projection are drivers behind biggest defence budget increase since the 1980s
President Bush's administration has unveiled plans for a $48 billion increase in US defence spending next year - the single largest boost in military funding since the Cold War build-up of the early 1980s.
Within the Department of Defense - with a budget of almost $400 billion compared to less than $256 billion five years ago - talk of peace dividends and downsizing is firmly a thing of the past. The new drive is focused on countering asymmetric threat, such as terrorism, and military transformation.
The threat today is very different from the Soviet danger that NATO once faced. Whereas President Reagan in the early 1980s simply spent Moscow into submission, defeating terrorist cells hiding in caves and cities requires a fundamental shift in US military posture. The underlying themes of the proposed $379 billion spend in fiscal year 2003 is the reshaping of the US war machine around homeland security, denying the enemy sanctuary, power projection and sustainment, information technology and enhancing space-based operations.
Around $19.4 billion of the additional money is to pay for the war in Afghanistan, of which $9.4 billion is for war-related equipment such as restocking depleted munitions reserves. A further $10 billion has been set aside for anticipated operations in FY03, but officials concede this is conservative given that the Afghan conflict is costing $1.8 billion a month. After a military personnel 4.5% pay rise, medical and retirement expenses and making provision for inflation, there is just under $10 billion extra funding in the pot.
Star performers of the Afghanistan war, unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) will have funding increased from $300 million to $1.12 billion. Roughly half will go to the Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk, including increasing low rate initial production from two to three Block 5 UAVs a year, accelerating radar and signals intelligence enhancements and development of a maritime version of the high-altitude UAV for the US Navy.
There will be a $141 million funding boost for the two Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-supported unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) for the US Air Force and USN. The air force is now hoping to have 14 UCAVs by 2008 to conduct an early operational assessment, although industry sources are sceptical whether the full Block 10 sensor and weapon capability will be ready by then.
TEXT: The USAF's Boeing X-45 UCAV demonstrator is already more than a year behind schedule.
More than any previous conflict, Afghanistan has underscored the operational reliance on precision- guided weapons. In addition to bolstering output of the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition by more than 50% compared to FY02, there is money for developing the 115kg (250lb) Small Diameter Bomb. The USN will spend $240 million on the Raytheon Block IV Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile, including 106 more rounds. The navy will also spend over $1 billion on converting four Ohio-class Trident ballistic missile submarines to fire Tomahawks.
With the number of nuclear warheads set to shrink from 6,000 to 1,700-2,200, the DoD is restructuring its strategic deterrence from FY03 with an initial $700 million.
Strategic nuclear weapons will now constitute only one leg of the deterrent triad. The other legs include defence and conventional offensive capabilities with improved control, command, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I). "Communications and targeting improvements allow us to do some things that, in the past, we probably didn't do as well with nuclear forces," says a DoD official.
While spending on the newly created Missile Defense Agency remains comparatively flat at $7.8 billion in FY03, there is a shift in emphasis towards boost-phase systems, with increased spending on the Boeing 747-400F-based Airborne Laser. On the downside, the DoD confirms cancellation of the Raytheon Navy Area Theatre ballistic missile defence programme and a two-year slip until FY06 of the launch of the TRW/Spectrum Astro Space Based Infra-Red System-Low.
The budget holds mixed blessings for aircraft programmes. Those systems judged to be "transformational" are receiving a financial boost, with the buy of Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22s being increased from 13 this year to 23 aircraft at a cost of $5.3 billion, while USAF/USN development funding for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will rise to $3.47 billion. The buy of USN Boeing F/A-18E/Fs will decrease by four to 44, while there is no money for more Boeing F-15s or Lockheed MartinF-16s and the Grumman F-14's retirement will be accelerated.
The USAF has been given thego-ahead for a second multi-year procurement (MYP) of 60 Boeing C-17s, increasing the planned fleet to 180. The FY03 budget contains money for the last eight C-17s in the current MYP and up to seven from the next. There is $334 million for four more Lockheed Martin KC-130J tankers for the marines and $18.7 million for four more AC-130 gunship conversions. Another proposal is for a MYP of up to 40 USAF C-130Js over five years.
Funding for the Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor has been trimmed as testing is extended, while $400 million has been cut from the Sikorsky SH-60R programme, with initial production delayed until FY04. An additional $85 million is being spent on equipping the USAF Special Operations Forces Sikorsky MH-53E with directional infrared countermeasures, and extending service life to 2011, to cope with delays to the CV-22.
Source: Flight International
