Posted on Thursday, 9th April 2009 by Roland_Melnick
Want to know how the Obama Administration plans to bring Change to our military? Read SecDef Robert Gates’ budget proposals.
In terms of equipment and high-tech doodads, there was a lot of give and take. Certain programs were killed, while others received support like the Littoral Class Naval Vessel commissioned here in Milwaukee. Other winners were both manned and unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaisance (ISR) aircraft like the Predator UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).
Colin Clark at the D.o.D Buzz writes that the biggest winners in the new budget are the men and women of the military. “[Gates] said he remained committed to growing the Army and Marines and would stop reductions in the Air Force and Navy. That will require another $11 billion over last year’s budget.
Special Forces will grow by another 5 percent — 2,800 people. They will also get more special lift, mobility and refueling aircraft, Gates said.
He will boost medical research and development by an additional $400 million. Spending on the wounded will rise by $300 million. Spending on spouses, child care, housing and education will rise by $300 million.”Â
Good to see them spending more looking after our people, but they could and should be spending more in my opinion.
The other big news was a shift in the acquisition process, Gates’ speech page 4: “This budget will support these goals by increasing the size of defense acquisition workforce, replacing 11,000 contractors with 9,000 government acquisition professionals by 2015 - beginning with 4,100 in FY10.”  Gates announced that these revisions will be made that will restore some common sense in deciding not only what we develop but how we oversee the projects as they progress. Fine ideals…let’s hope he can deliver on them. If he can, it will reinforce my suspicion that Gates is the single smartest Cabinet-level pick Bush Obama has made.
US NAVY GOES GREEN?
 This story from CNET on the US Navy’s introduction of hydrogen fuel cell technology in its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program. The pacifist crowd will furrow their collective brows at me for saying this but…many of our swiftest modern technological advances have come from military research. Often they have nothing to do with more efficient ways of killing more people…they usually revolve around resolving issues not normally addressed in civilian life. For example…supplying drinking water and disposing of the waste and garbage of 6,000 people crammed inside an aircraft carrier while out at sea for 6 months. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is another great example of a military innovation that when made public, revolutionized navigation for everyone/everything from hikers to supertankers.Â
Being the quintessential skeptic and pragmatist, I only believe in the real deal when it comes to “going green.” Real solutions to real problems. Not that this project is ahead of civilian engineering, but I hope that it opens the door for other research that will revolutionize energy production on a wider scale…like a solar panel that saves more than it costs…that’s just one example. A wave of ideas more exciting and inspiring than “Poop to Power.”
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April 10th, 2009 at 4:17 am
For the most part the Defense cuts by Obammer and Gates are more or less “Back to the FutureIV-Jimmy Carter returns!!”
I think the idea of cutting the F-22 Raptor short is beyond stupid! We have what is potentially the scariest and flat out deadliest air superiority fighter and they want to stop making them!
What is it with Dems/Liberals never wanting to have the best Military in the World?