Pentagon braces for much deeper military spending cuts as part of debt deal (WaPo)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Craig Whitlock, Published: July 20

The Pentagon is bracing for spending cuts far deeper than what it was expecting just a few weeks ago, including the possible elimination of an aircraft carrier group and other weapons programs, as an increasing number of lawmakers float proposals for slashing the once-sacrosanct defense budget.

Defense officials have been warning for months that the Pentagon must prepare for a new era of austerity after a long period of growth that has swelled military spending to its highest level, adjusted for inflation, since World War II.

But as lawmakers and the White House move closer to a grand bargain that could reshape the country’s fiscal priorities, Pentagon budget planners are scrambling to keep up. Military officials said they are girding for the possibility that they will have to reduce projected spending by as much as $800 billion over the next 12 years.

That’s twice the worst-case forecast they confronted as recently as April, when President Obama warned his administration that it might have to cut $400 billion from its national-security budgets over the same time frame.

“We’re doing due diligence on that,” Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast last week. “But the reality is you’re most worried about a deeper cut. Is there another $400 billion beyond the first $400 billion?”
***
more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-braces-for-much-deeper-military-spending-cuts-as-part-of-debt-deal/2011/07/20/gIQAdBKfQI_story.html




:wow::wow::wow:

Could this be happening at last?

[WinkyDink]

1. What's that, 5 drones in 12 years?

[eppur_se_muova]

2. That's about 27,000 Predator drones @ $15M each.

[MadHound]

3. Let's see,

That's 67 billion a year, ooo, big cut there. Given that the entire military budget is now running us at a trillion plus, that add is approximately a six percent cut, at best.

Get back to me when they hit the ten, fifteen percent mark.

[provis99]

4. they should be cutting at least $400 billion a year, not 12 years.

heck, it should be $600 billion they cut. And scrap the damned attack submarine fleet; the Soviet Union died twenty years ago.

[TheWraith]

5. It might behoove you to know that $600 billion is nearly the entire military budget.

It's around $672 billion a year, exaggerated ideas notwithstanding.

[provis99]

8. nonsense. It's nearly $1 trillion.

you only get $672 billion if you indulge in nonsense like not counting wars, or veteran's benefits, or nuclear weapons (nuclear weapons, fer chrissakes).
http://www.truthwinds.com/siterun_data/government/fraud/us_government/news.php?q=1241658844

And those figures don't count the cost of the Coast Guard either.

[xiamiam]

6. the pentagon has misplaced billions..& enriched the weapons industry..

ad nauseum

[The Big Vetolski]

7. I wouldn't bet on it. Still, we could cut the defense budget by HALF

and still have the strongest military in the world. That's good enough for me.