Updated Saturday, March 11, 2000
A little old
Posted on 12/29/2004 9:49:50 PM PST by 1LongTimeLurker
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 - The Pentagon plans to retire one of the Navy's 12 aircraft carriers, buy fewer amphibious landing ships for the Marine Corps and delay the development of a costly Army combat system of high-tech arms as part of $60 billion in proposed cuts over the next six years, Congressional and military officials said Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"This went out to all the Depts. DoD is just answering the mail. I also seriously doubt in the end there will be military infrastructure or capitol investment cuts. Clinton allowed too much of this and we are still catching up."
WRT infrastructure, there is a Base Reduction And Closure due in May. It will be bloody.
USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I live in JAX where the Kennedy's home port is and I recall it just went under about 6 months of repairs/upgrades.
Aussies offer us a homeport for one.
That'd be nice.
For Kennedy's status - http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/where.htm
As to the Aussies, it's totally conjecture on my part. But we are in the process of opening some kind of forward training base with us.
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040607024347.fzd44jna.html
They are also joining us on the SDI.
Might as well put this up too.
It's not clear from this article that there are any actual cuts to the defense budget. I suspect that many of the 'cuts' are budget decisions reprogramming money from one defense program to another. IOW, we're buying more beans and bullets for the troops and fewer things that do not directly support the war on terror.
Don't forget there is a Base Closure And Reduction (BRAC) committee working with a report due in May05. I suspect that a lot of the congresscritters attacking the SecDef are motivated by this BRAC and are 'sending a message' so to speak. Reports are this BRAC will cut a lot of un-needed bases and installations. This will be the first BRAC since Clinton used the last one as a re-election ploy back in '96.
There has been some grumbling that the reshuffling of European forces back to the U.S. that was announced earlier this year is aimed at putting more troops into U.S. bases, thus averting additional closures.
Pretty much a given that the forces returning from Europe may forstall some of the BRAC closures. But there remain a large number of bases that can and will be closed. I doubt you'll any of the major installations like Fort Hood or Fort Lewis closed. But you may see a lot of 'industrial' bases like various arsenals, depots, etc. closed.
We used to have 16. We at least two more. It will get very expensive if China thinks it can grab taiwan.
Mostly Vikings. Mostly East Coast. Two CV-60 cruises, one CV-62, short cruises on CVN-68, CV-59. My military flying days ended shortly after DS.
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