CSBA in the News

The Air Force is turning to its allies for help as it looks to maintain a viable global presence in the face of coming budget cuts, a top Air Force general said today/…/ Closer ties with allied air forces will let the Air Force maintain — or in some cases expand — its global presence without dedicating men or materiel. In return, partner nations can take advantage of training and equipment via Foreign Military Sales from the United States.

The U.S. Air Force must modernize its aging arsenal of B-61 and B-83 thermonuclear freefall bombs if the nation is to maintain its deterrence, especially against emerging atomic powers, service officials said. But the weapons are funded partly by the Department of Energy and partly by the Pentagon, which has complicated modernization efforts. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Nov. 2, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz made an appeal for that panel to ask the Department of Energy to modernize the B-61 bomb, which makes up the preponderance of the U.S. aircraft-dropped tactical nuclear arsenal.

Prospects for wrapping up the defense spending bill for fiscal 2012 by the Dec. 16 deadline are dimming.

The potential for $1 trillion in cuts to the defense budget is thrusting the issue of national security back into the spotlight of the 2012 presidential race. The cuts, set for January 2013, could also turn a strength into a vulnerability for President Obama, who has more to brag about when it comes to security and foreign affairs than the economy.

As the Pentagon eyes programs to face the budget axe, weapons programs will be the easiest targets for quick cuts, a budget analyst said Wednesday.

The failure of the supercommittee to reach a deficit deal will likely trigger what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called a “doomsday” scenario for the Pentagon: sweeping cuts that would reduce military spending by a total of around $1 trillion over the next decade. But if it’s an apocalypse, it will be one in slow motion. Defense officials and budget experts say the stage is now set for a prolonged fight in Washington over the specific items to be cut. And the Pentagon has room for some creative accounting that could help soften the impact of the across-the-board budget cuts.