The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber according to three sources close to the discussions.
No final decisions have been made and the recommendations are part of negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department over possible budget trade-offs this year the sources said. The guidance represents two of the offset options that OMB gave the Pentagon last month regarding the fiscal 2010 Defense budget request.
If the guidance survives the internal budget process a huge protest will follow on Capitol Hill where dozens of lawmakers are heavily invested in the battle over tanker procurement which has raged for years.
Some Defense budget experts hailed the news as a step toward tighter fiscal discipline and a strong opening salvo in the battle to make hard choices over procurement programs as the military rebalances itself and budgets tighten.
OMB is beginning to show itself as a breath of fresh air after decades of prostrate compliance with Pentagon wishes" said Winslow Wheeler head of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information.
Air power advocates and military officials contend that the moves if enacted would hurt U.S. strategic might and put at risk missions that depend on the aging tanker and bomber fleets.
The Air Force needs a new tanker desperately" said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Dunn president of the Air Force Association. The KC-135 tanker averages over 47 years old and the B-52 bomber is almost as old."
President Obama released limited details of his upcoming $533.7 billion fiscal 2010 Defense budget Feb. 26 with full details expected in April.
That top-line number was a compromise between OMBs original guidance of $524 billion which matched the last official Bush administration estimate and a $584 billion wish list" compiled by the Joint Chiefs of Staff last fall.
Tanker Battle Awaits
If OMBs recommendations are enacted the largest battle in Congress will be over the Air Forces contract for a new fleet of midair refueling tankers which the Pentagon delayed last September following a protest backed by the Government Accountability Office.
The competition which ultimately will be worth as much as $100 billion has pitted Boeing Co. against a consortium of Northrop Grumman Corp. and the North American arm of the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.
Lawmakers from states representing both companies reacted with dismay to the prospect that the tanker competition could be delayed again especially for five years.
Sen. Jeff Sessions R-Ala. said Congress would fight back against a delay in the tanker contract if it is submitted in the formal budget request. The Northrop Grumman contender for the contract would be assembled largely in his state.
For a group who has been in the OMB for just a matter of weeks to come in and suggest the cancellation of the No. 1 Air Force priority for procurement is stunning and I dont think Congress will accept that" Sessions said.
Congress has repeatedly called for the tanker contract to be competitively bid as soon as possible Sessions said adding that there would be an effort to include the money in either the war supplemental or regular Defense appropriation bill.
Sen. Sam Brownback R-Kan. whose state would benefit if Boeing won the contract called the OMB guidance deeply disturbing."
The longer we wait to begin building tankers the more we jeopardize our many global operations from war-fighting to relief efforts which depend on this vital platform" he said.
The tanker program has support from more lawmakers than just those with parochial interests one Democratic Senate aide said. Congressmen on defense-related committees and those who have large military constituencies will also fight any delay in tanker procurement.
There is an effort among senior senators in both parties to make sure that we get moving quicker on the air refueling tanker contract" said the aide noting that Sens. Kent Conrad D-N.D. and Orrin G. Hatch R-Utah are drafting a letter to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn arguing that point.
Members of Congress largely agree that the current tankers are too old and delaying the new one takes on too much risk the aide said. Although it was too early to talk strategy because the administrations decision isnt final he said In the end Congress will write the appropriations bills."
Military Sees a Dangerous Gamble
Inside the military the prospect of a delay in the tanker program and a cancellation of the long-range bomber is seen as a dangerous gamble that current fleets can be maintained despite their age.
Next-generation tanker and bomber decisions today will have tremendous impact on our security in the future and on Americas continued role as the worlds sole superpower" said one senior Defense official who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss budget matters.
The next-generation bomber which is still in the early development phase and is not expected to fly until 2018 is needed for long-range strike capability said the official who added that canceling it would surrender Americas capability to rapidly deliver and sustain power projection."
John Pike director of the Web site GlobalSecurity.org said that the next-generation bomber program would be easier to eliminate politically because the program was still in its infancy. It was just getting started and had not done a lot of constituency-building" he said.
The current bomber fleet has plenty of life left although it is not as advanced as some air power advocates would like he said. That program was a technology push rather than a requirement pull" Pike said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned Feb. 26 In the days to come any information you may receive about budget or program decisions will undoubtedly be wrong" because he intends to wait until the end of our review process before making any decisions."
OMB spokesman Kenneth Baer declined to comment on the inner workings of the budget process saying Those details will come out when the full budget request comes out in April."
The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber according to three sources close to the discussions.
No final decisions have been made and the recommendations are part of negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department over possible budget trade-offs this year the sources said. The guidance represents two of the offset options that OMB gave the Pentagon last month regarding the fiscal 2010 Defense budget request.
If the guidance survives the internal budget process a huge protest will follow on Capitol Hill where dozens of lawmakers are heavily invested in the battle over tanker procurement which has raged for years.
Some Defense budget experts hailed the news as a step toward tighter fiscal discipline and a strong opening salvo in the battle to make hard choices over procurement programs as the military rebalances itself and budgets tighten.
OMB is beginning to show itself as a breath of fresh air after decades of prostrate compliance with Pentagon wishes" said Winslow Wheeler head of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information.
Air power advocates and military officials contend that the moves if enacted would hurt U.S. strategic might and put at risk missions that depend on the aging tanker and bomber fleets.
The Air Force needs a new tanker desperately" said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Dunn president of the Air Force Association. The KC-135 tanker averages over 47 years old and the B-52 bomber is almost as old."
President Obama released limited details of his upcoming $533.7 billion fiscal 2010 Defense budget Feb. 26 with full details expected in April.
That top-line number was a compromise between OMBs original guidance of $524 billion which matched the last official Bush administration estimate and a $584 billion wish list" compiled by the Joint Chiefs of Staff last fall.
Tanker Battle Awaits
If OMBs recommendations are enacted the largest battle in Congress will be over the Air Forces contract for a new fleet of midair refueling tankers which the Pentagon delayed last September following a protest backed by the Government Accountability Office.
The competition which ultimately will be worth as much as $100 billion has pitted Boeing Co. against a consortium of Northrop Grumman Corp. and the North American arm of the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.
Lawmakers from states representing both companies reacted with dismay to the prospect that the tanker competition could be delayed again especially for five years.
Sen. Jeff Sessions R-Ala. said Congress would fight back against a delay in the tanker contract if it is submitted in the formal budget request. The Northrop Grumman contender for the contract would be assembled largely in his state.
For a group who has been in the OMB for just a matter of weeks to come in and suggest the cancellation of the No. 1 Air Force priority for procurement is stunning and I dont think Congress will accept that" Sessions said.
Congress has repeatedly called for the tanker contract to be competitively bid as soon as possible Sessions said adding that there would be an effort to include the money in either the war supplemental or regular Defense appropriation bill.
Sen. Sam Brownback R-Kan. whose state would benefit if Boeing won the contract called the OMB guidance deeply disturbing."
The longer we wait to begin building tankers the more we jeopardize our many global operations from war-fighting to relief efforts which depend on this vital platform" he said.
The tanker program has support from more lawmakers than just those with parochial interests one Democratic Senate aide said. Congressmen on defense-related committees and those who have large military constituencies will also fight any delay in tanker procurement.
There is an effort among senior senators in both parties to make sure that we get moving quicker on the air refueling tanker contract" said the aide noting that Sens. Kent Conrad D-N.D. and Orrin G. Hatch R-Utah are drafting a letter to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn arguing that point.
Members of Congress largely agree that the current tankers are too old and delaying the new one takes on too much risk the aide said. Although it was too early to talk strategy because the administrations decision isnt final he said In the end Congress will write the appropriations bills."
Military Sees a Dangerous Gamble
Inside the military the prospect of a delay in the tanker program and a cancellation of the long-range bomber is seen as a dangerous gamble that current fleets can be maintained despite their age.
Next-generation tanker and bomber decisions today will have tremendous impact on our security in the future and on Americas continued role as the worlds sole superpower" said one senior Defense official who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss budget matters.
The next-generation bomber which is still in the early development phase and is not expected to fly until 2018 is needed for long-range strike capability said the official who added that canceling it would surrender Americas capability to rapidly deliver and sustain power projection."
John Pike director of the Web site GlobalSecurity.org said that the next-generation bomber program would be easier to eliminate politically because the program was still in its infancy. It was just getting started and had not done a lot of constituency-building" he said.
The current bomber fleet has plenty of life left although it is not as advanced as some air power advocates would like he said. That program was a technology push rather than a requirement pull" Pike said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned Feb. 26 In the days to come any information you may receive about budget or program decisions will undoubtedly be wrong" because he intends to wait until the end of our review process before making any decisions."
OMB spokesman Kenneth Baer declined to comment on the inner workings of the budget process saying Those details will come out when the full budget request comes out in April."
