Sequester Will 'Gut' DoD Modernization; Navy's SSBN-X, Long Range Strike, Other New Starts In Peril

http://defense.aol.com/2013/03/13/sequester-will-gut-dod-modernization-navys-new-sub-ssbn-x-l/

Sequester Will 'Gut' DoD Modernization; Navy's SSBN-X, Long Range Strike, Other New Starts In Peril
By Colin Clark
Published: March 13, 2013

WASHINGTON: Every senior civilian leader and the Navy agree that America needs replacements for the Ohio-class nuclear missile submarines if our nuclear deterrent is to remain credible. But the SSBN-X, as the program is known, is at risk from the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration, the influential head of CAPE, the Pentagon's budget and cost estimation shop, Christine Fox, said yesterday evening.

CAPE, known formally as the office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, not only does program evaluation for the Defense Secretary but it also builds the Future Year Defense Program (FYDP), a key part of the defense budget process. I asked Fox at the end of the McAleese Associates/Credit Suisse conference what the Pentagon can do to protect new starts if sequestration remains in force and it must cut such large amounts from existing programs.

"I wish I had a really snappy answer. We have to have a new SSBN and we need the bomber," Fox said. Basically, the Pentagon and the defense industry have to "hold our breath for a few years" and do what is necessary to protect those crucial new starts, which include the Long Range Strike Bomber program. Her basic prescription for protecting them is this: "What can we not do today but still protect that capability."

~snip~

"I wish I had a really snappy answer. We have to have a new SSBN and we need the bomber," Fox said. Basically, the Pentagon and the defense industry have to "hold our breath for a few years" and do what is necessary to protect those crucial new starts, which include the Long Range Strike Bomber program. Her basic prescription for protecting them is this: "What can we not do today but still protect that capability."



unhappycamper comment: I'm still trying to grasp why a 10 percent budget cut makes all the wheels fall off.