New wars, new weapons, new budget. Part III (US Navy and Special Ops)

The USAF and the Army didn’t go off well from Gates’ budget, that’s clear. What about the Navy? Well, they did better.

It’s true that the eleventh combat group won’t be created (including the cancellation of a new aircraft carrier, being the George H. W. Bush the last Nimitz class being built). Future perspectives for carriers aren’t better, as the Ford class carriers will stay only in the designing tables. But even though, the American airborne deterrent will continue to be the biggest in the world.

The plans for a new stealth destroyer, the DDG-1000 class ships, hit too the drydock for now. As it does the troubled presidential chopper.

But the AEGIS/SM-3 system; the small corvettes of the Littoral Combat Ship class (LCS); the project for a new amphibious vehicle, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV); and the updates for the new versions of the V-22, UH-1 and AH-1 are carried forward.

Two of these projects, the Littoral Combat Ship and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, have the same problems as many of the projects cancelled for the Army and the USAF -like the Airborne Laser, the F-22 Raptor and de Future Combat Systems. This is, they are clearly overbudget, delayed far from schedule and their performance is under questioning. Why maintain them then?

The truth is that those two projects are perfectly in line with Obama’s new approach to wars. Asymmetrical warfare, a smaller navy and a force capable of quick deployment anywhere in the world and prepared to cope with the new wars on the ground and in the sea. The EFV is called to be the next amphibious vehicle, carrying infantrymen safely to land from their amphibious ships. The LCS, on the other hand, is perfect to accompany the new Strategic Projection Ships (smaller aircraft carriers with amphibious capabilities, the backbone of future Navy). Not to mention that is the perfect match -or at least more adequate than the actual ships- for the quick small pirate ships, as stated this week.

In this guerrilla warfare philosophy are also included (in a central part) the Special Ops and choppers. They have been the other winners in Gates’ budget.

About the hellos, Gates plans to buy or update 2,000 UH-60 (medium airlift), 500 CH-47 Chinook (heavy airlift), 600 AH-64 (ground support) and 300 UH-71 (multipurpose). All these choppers have been actively used in Afghanistan and Iraq and form the backbone of the supply chain and heavy fire ground support of the boots over the ground.

But in between so many tanks, planes and ships, the increase in personnel has gone almost unseen. Just as a starting point, the Pentagon wants to increase in 2,800 Special Ops (a 5% increase) his forces. They also plan to employ $500 million to “recruit and train” new crew for the above mentioned helicopters. In a third instance, they want also to recruit more boots to try to avoid hiring mercenaries.

The new focus looks smart. Smarter at least than the Bush-era focus, although it become a little more intelligent in the later times (under Gates). Now let’s see if it works. Or even if the Senate approves it before.



Photo. Officer 2nd Class Charles E. Alvarado