|
Contact: Margaret M. Moree
Defense Secretary Gates expressed concerns Wednesday that he is leaving the next administration with projected decreases in defense spending after years of historic growth in the Pentagon's budget. Combined with the war funding, the FY09 budget could become the largest defense budget, in real terms, since the end of World War II. Gates warned that real growth in the Defense Department's base budget would soon plateau.
Several analysts and lawmakers have criticized the FY09 budget request for putting off difficult decisions on military spending until a new administration takes over next year. Questions abound about the affordability and the future of the
military's arsenal of current and planned weapons systems, such as the Army's $160 billion Future Combat Systems, amid rising domestic costs and a growing budget deficit.
The FY 09 budget sent to Congress on Monday did not request any funding to shut down production lines of either the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighter jet or the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane even though there are no firm plans to build any more of either aircraft. Each program has jobs scattered over more than 40 states. Second and third tier subcontractors that supply parts years before the final assembly of the planes would begin to close production lines in late 2008 if the FY 09 budget remains as proposed.
| 
