The defense budget proposal that the Obama administration will send to Congress next week shows signs that the Pentagon is concerned about asserting its dominance in aerial and naval warfare, vis-à-vis a rising China and saber rattling by Iran, said Jim Thomas, vice president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
The 2012-2018 budget is expected to begin a gradual slowdown in the growth of defense spending, which has doubled since 2001. After 2015, the budget will flatten out, Thomas said Feb. 10. But even with a constrained budget, Gates already has let it be known that he intends to support increased funding for a long-range bomber, naval surface warships, submarines, intelligence collection and electronic warfare systems, all of which would be designed to operate in a “non-permissive environment.” That is Pentagon-speak for fighting in areas where U.S. jets and ships would be vulnerable to enemy missiles or aircraft.
As the Pentagon plans for the future, Thomas said, “We’re looking at less permissive environments than we’ve had in the last 20 years.” In the wars of the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, by contrast, U.S. aircraft have flown with impunity, he said.