Pentagon Low Cost Bidding
The relevant congressional committees of the United States have begun to consider the Pentagon’s budget request for the 2017 fiscal year (FY). This multi-phase process, which will continue throughout the year and will end in December with the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by US President Barack Obama, began on February 9, when parliamentarians received from the head of the White House a draft appropriation for national security. defense. The total amount of the Pentagon’s budget documents, in which the amount of funds needed by the defense ministry to solve its tasks is thoroughly detailed, is several thousand pages.
FINANCIAL NEEDS AND TASKS OF THE PENTAGON
In the 2017 fiscal year, the US Defense Department wants to receive from parliamentarians 582,7 billion dollars, including 523,9 billion of the so-called basic allocations, that is, the funds needed by the Pentagon to maintain troops, train them and equip them with modern weapons. 58,8 billion is supposed to be spent on military operations in foreign countries that America needs to maintain world leadership, to suppress unwanted regimes and to fight global terror.
Despite all the talk about reducing military spending, the demands of American warriors continue to grow, and next year they intend to receive a billion dollars more on 2,4 than in the current year. Pentagon leaders explain their financial intentions by the aggravation of the international situation and the need for the US military to maintain and increase military superiority over the armies of other countries.
They argue that at the present stage, the strategic situation in Asia has significantly changed, in the Middle East and in Europe and America we have to face ever-increasing threats to national security, which are often completely unexpected. Therefore, the US Armed Forces must be managed by commanders who have a new understanding of the situation in the world, the state of the troops must correspond to the tasks that they need to be solved in various strategic regions, and the skills of the military personnel and the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces must constantly increase. It is these reasons that require the Pentagon’s leadership to take effective actions to expand the capabilities of the Armed Forces in solving various tasks, develop new operational concepts, develop military technologies and preserve US superiority in this area, as well as reforming America’s military structures and creating an army of the future.
Representing the budget of his department for the next year, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said that "this budget is an important turning point for the Ministry of Defense." “We not only have to fight the way we do today, but also have to be ready for the battles that can take place through 10, 20 and even 30 years,” the Pentagon chief announced.
As stated in the press release of the Defense Ministry, the 2017 FG military budget is the basis for implementing the defense program, which optimally balances the requirements for today's Armed Forces and the ability to create an army of the future that can best protect the United States and is ready to wage any full-scale wars. Planned allocations for the coming year are necessary to ensure that the united aircrafts comply with modern requirements, to fulfill strategic tasks and to implement the plans of the armed forces for ensuring and maintaining the required level of combat readiness.
Next year, the US Army (Army) leadership plans to conduct a large complex of measures aimed at increasing the capacity of the center for combat training of troops. This will allow the combat units of the brigades to undergo better training in the full range of skills required to solve operational tasks in full-scale combat operations.
The Navy will continue to implement an optimized naval response plan (Optimized Fleet Response Plan), which was put into effect last year. In accordance with this plan, Navy ships should receive timely and high-quality material and technical support, and naval sailors should undergo the necessary professional combat training for the timely and quick departure of naval units to conflict zones of the World Ocean and for the annual conduct of long sea voyages. The United States Marine Corps (ILC) in the 2017 FG should receive the necessary funding for the organization of comprehensive training for all units of its naval, air and land-based forces.
The Air Force plans to spend a part of the funds they need to finance the maximum necessary number of sorties during the training of pilots of units deployed at air bases in the United States and to provide the required logistic support to accomplish this task. In addition, the leadership of this type of aircraft plans to upgrade all training centers for flight crews and technical personnel located inside the country in order to expand their capabilities.
Understanding that the combat readiness of troops largely depends on the well-being of military personnel, in the coming year the Pentagon plans to increase their basic allowance by 1,6%.
Within the budget of the 2017 FY, funding will be provided for the activities of 460, thousand active men and officers serving in active service, 335, thousand National Guard (NG) servicemen, and 195, thousand reservists of this type of aircraft. These contingents are part of 56 Army Brigades. In addition, allocations will be made for the maintenance of the thousands of KMP and 182 military personnel of the thousands of reservists of this kind of troops interacting with the Army 38,5.
Next year’s Navy’s budget provides for an increase in the number of warships, the number of which in the next five years should increase from 280 units to 308, and the maintenance of the personnel of the operating forces and reserves of 380,9 thousand people.
The Air Force is requesting appropriations for the maintenance and support of the 55 personnel of tactical fighter squadrons that include 491,7 ths. Active duty military, NG and reserve.
As announced by the Pentagon, "the current situation in the world is extremely different from the one in which the MoD has had to function in the last 25 years." This requires new approaches to assessing the situation and new forms of organization of the activities of the military department. It is this factor, according to the leadership of the Pentagon, that today determines the plans and financial requests of the Ministry of Defense.
The requested allocations to fight terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other regions, aimed at the final destruction of the militants of the Al Qaeda and Islamic State terrorist organizations banned in Russia, should ensure the solution of a number of tasks.
Financing the operations of the US Armed Forces abroad includes funds necessary for the US military contingents to conduct combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions of the Greater Middle East, as well as for the creation and training of military contingents of the national forces of these states intended to combat terrorism.
The scope of this item of expenditure also includes the funds necessary for conducting reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of counterterrorist operations of the US armed forces. This type of activity in the interests of the military commanders will be carried out by 90 integrated military air patrol units.
The budget of the Pentagon for the next year provides, as stated in the press release of the Ministry of Defense, the possibility of "implementing a strong and balanced approach to responding to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe." “We oppose Russia's aggressive policy by investing in a wide range of our combat capabilities. The 2017 FG budget should allow us to modernize air defense systems and increase their combat potential, develop new robotic and unmanned vehicles, create a new long-range bomber and a new long-range cruise missile, and modernize our nuclear arsenal, ”the military press release said. departments.
Next year compared to the current year, the Pentagon intends to quadruple the amount of allocations required to implement the European Security Initiative launched in 2014 in the year (European Reassurance Initiative). To solve the task of increasing the confidence of NATO countries in their security and countering Russian aggression, the Ministry of Defense is requesting 3,4 billion dollars. These funds are planned to be spent on deploying additional weapons in a number of countries of the alliance, increasing the number of military exercises, ensuring the planned rotation of units of three US Army brigades be on European theaters.
As part of a plan to reorient Washington’s interests in the Asia-Pacific region (APR), the Pentagon intends to receive the necessary funds to turn the island of Guam, where the US naval base is located, into the APR strategic center, for the rotation of Singapore-based multipurpose base patrol aircraft aviation US Navy R-8 Poseidon, to implement an initiative to deploy American strategic bombers on a rotational basis in the northern part of Australia, as well as to deploy F-35 fighters in Japan.
Due to the growing number of cyber attacks on military facilities in 2017 FG, the Pentagon plans to spend 6,8 billion dollars to protect its information infrastructure, to carry out response operations and to implement the cybernetic strategy in general.
Next year, the MoD intends to work towards reducing military allocations. By 2020, the MO administrative staff is planned to be reduced by 2014% compared to 25 a year. By 2019, the Pentagon intends to reduce the number of military bases and other objects. The system of medical care will also be reformed in order to lower the cost of healthcare services for military personnel, their family members and military retirees and access to medical care. In addition, by the year 2018 it is planned to ensure the constant readiness of the military department for audits. True, the implementation of these intentions will also require some costs.
American submariners continue to explore the Arctic, a zone of vital US interests. Photo from www.navy.mil
The Pentagon wants to get 2017 billion dollars to ensure technological superiority over other armies of the world and the introduction of technological innovations in the 112,1 FG. These funds are intended to be spent by its management on purchasing hypersonic weapons, processing systems of large data arrays, advanced materials and artificial intelligence systems. According to the military department, all this is necessary to prevent and resolve military conflicts or to wage, if necessary, wars in the future. 71,8 billion dollars is planned to be spent on research, development, testing and evaluation in order to create new military technology and advanced weapons systems.
According to the Pentagon, although most of the modern nuclear weapons The United States maintains its effectiveness; America enters a period when a significant part of this type of weapons requires modernization, which entails an increase in defense spending and allocations to agencies and structures involved in the development of these weapons outside the military. In 2017, the MO requested 19 billion dollars for this task.
MO considers space one of the main theaters in future wars. It is planned to spend 2017 billion dollars on further development and modernization of space weapons and related ground infrastructure in the 1,8 FG. Of this amount, the next five years will be spent on the creation of the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center. In the case of conducting combat operations in space, this Center will allow concentrating efforts to protect the United States of all federal agencies operating space.
The tables below (tab. 1, 2) show the planned volume of budgets of the Defense Ministry and the US Department of the Aid of the US Armed Forces in the 2017 FG for the basic items of expenditure and the appropriations requested for special operations outside of America.
It should be noted that the US Department of Defense is not the only player in the field of protecting America from external threats. Other federal agencies and special services are also involved in this process. Therefore, the real total expenses of the White House on ensuring the national security of the country substantially exceed the annual budget of the Pentagon. According to experts from the Center for Defense Information (Center for Defense Information - CDI), an independent research organization analyzing the activities of the Defense Ministry and controlling the military budget, this year the federal budget allocated 997,2 billion dollars, and in 2017 FY this amount must make 1038,1 billion. The uniqueness of this Center, which includes retired high-ranking military, former government officials and civilian experts on a wide range of issues in the field of international security and defense and issues of military construction, is that, unlike the other US think tanks, CDI does not accept grants from federal organizations and companies of the military-industrial complex. This is a definite guarantee of the independence of the research conducted by its specialists.
CENE WARRIORS TRAINING THREATS TO AMERICA
Traditionally, the Pentagon’s budget discussion takes place against the backdrop of reports of the military department, think tanks dealing with US national security, statements by federal officials representing the military and other security forces about America’s poor security and new dangers for its citizens and allies. hostile and unfriendly states.
While pushing their military formations to the eastern borders of Russia, Washington earnestly shouts that today Moscow is the main threat to the security of America and its European allies in NATO. This is due to the eternal desire of the United States to eliminate its main competitor on the world stage, to weaken Russia, dismember it, take possession of vast natural resources and become the sole supreme judge on earth.
25 February this year, speaking at a hearing in the Committee on the Armed Forces (FAC) of the House of Representatives of the American Congress, the outgoing commander of the European Command (EC) of the United States Armed Forces (AF) and the Supreme Commander of the United Air Force (EFV) in Europe, four-star General Philip Breedlove stated that "today the United States and NATO face two threats to national security." The first is the aggressiveness of Russia, and the second is determined by the instability of the situation on the southern flank of NATO.
The Kremlin, according to the general, for the last two years suffering from Russophobia on the verge of hysterics, continues to exacerbate in every possible way security problems in the area of responsibility of the US EC and in other regions adjacent to it.
The general said that over the past two decades, the United States and NATO had attempted to involve Russia as a partner and build friendly relations with it in the military, economic and cultural spheres. In the 90s of the last century, Moscow became a member of the Partnership for Peace program. In 1997, the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between the Russian Federation and NATO was signed. After Russia demonstrated its commitment to the principles of peaceful cooperation with the United States and European NATO countries, the White House, based on the intention of Moscow to sincerely cooperate with America and Europe, significantly reduced its military presence in the European zone. Other measures were taken to strengthen cooperation with the Russian Federation. However, despite all these actions to develop relations with Russia, the war in Georgia in 2008, as Bridlav announced, became the starting point in the process of destroying the friendly relations of the United States and other Western countries with the Russian Federation.
According to the commander, it is now quite obvious that the Kremlin does not share the ideas of the West about the directions of building a safe world and the development of friendly relations. Instead, he continues to consider the United States and the Alliance their main enemies, threatening the national security of the Russian Federation. Since the beginning of 2014, the general declares that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been trying to destroy the existing system of ensuring European security and striving for maximum domination on the world stage.
At the present stage, as Bridlove emphasized, Russia continues to implement a long-term program for the modernization of its Armed Forces. Her recent actions in Ukraine and Syria demonstrate a “disturbing intention” to expand the presence of their air force expeditionary contingents in various regions of the world, strengthen their combat capabilities and create a permanent system of their logistics. The last 20 years Russian experts conducted an analysis of US military operations. According to the results of expert assessments, the military doctrine of Russia and the directions of strengthening military capabilities were developed, which will allow its troops to effectively counter the US and NATO forces. “Analyzing the threats that Russia represents to NATO and the United States, we must consider its actions with the utmost care, taking into account its capabilities, strength and intentions,” the general said.
The American commander of Europe laid out the threats from Russia to Western countries in the northern and eastern parts of the world. In the north, he argues, Moscow threatens the West in the Arctic region. The increased activity of various countries in this region is forcing the United States, which is one of the eight Arctic countries, to change its views on this part of the planet. The US EC, together with its allies and partners, is actively working towards making its contribution to the peaceful development of the space of the Far North. “We strive to prevent and contain conflict (in the Arctic. -“ NVO ”), but we must be ready for adequate answers in a wide range of problems and unforeseen circumstances. We are working with our allies and partners to create guarantees that the Arctic is a stable and safe region, in which the interests of America and its northern territories are protected, ”said the commander.
A significant reduction in ice cover in the Arctic region leads to the expansion of commercial and other activities of various states in this part of the planet. The Northern Sea Route, located in the EC’s area of responsibility, makes it possible to significantly reduce the time and cost of supplying various cargoes, including military goods, due to the longer absence of ice and the expansion of the passage areas for ships on this route.
According to Breedlove, all eight Arctic countries have a long history cooperation in the High North. In May 2011, they signed the Agreement on Cooperation in Aviation and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic. This was an essential step towards cooperation in this region. However, Russia's actions in the Arctic are causing growing concern in the West. The expansion of the military presence of the Russian Federation in the north, the restoration of the previously closed and the construction of new military bases here, as well as the creation of the USC North, in the opinion of the other seven countries, threatens their national interests, security and is in direct contradiction with their actions in the area.
Breedlove argues that the events held by Russia in the Arctic and supposedly aimed at increasing the intensity and safety of navigation on the Northern Sea Route, for the most part have a purely military focus and indicate the Kremlin’s aggressive aspirations to take a more significant position in the world. The United States continues to convince all its Arctic partners of the need to comply with all international agreements on this region, aimed against its militarization, and the need for the peaceful development of the northern spaces.
According to the Pentagon, the cooperation of the Arctic countries and their adherence to the norms of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea should lead to the prevention of escalation of tensions in the Arctic and to a decrease in the likelihood of military confrontation of countries having their own interests here.
The EC commander stated that the main targets of Russia's aggressive foreign and military policy on NATO’s eastern flank, which is the responsibility of this command, are Ukraine and the Baltic countries. This fact is of great concern in the countries of the block. The actions and intentions of the Kremlin extremely destabilize the situation in this region and lead to an increase in tension. Extremely negative impact on the situation in this part of the European theater and the violation of the existing balance of power had the seizure of Crimea by Russia and direct support by Moscow of the separatist forces in Ukraine.
Breedlove loudly announced that Moscow’s desire to create leverage on Kiev, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius in the diplomatic, economic, informational and defense spheres is aimed at creating favorable conditions that ensure its absolute domination in the former Soviet republics. Such a position and the corresponding actions of Russia are a challenge to the West, which is making all the necessary efforts and taking the necessary measures to ensure the security of these countries.
The main tool in the practice of implementing the Kremlin’s foreign policy ambitions, according to the general, are long-term and unresolved conflict situations. Russia takes advantage of the contradictions between countries and regions and takes military participation in them. In support of his statement, he recalled Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Moldova and Transdniestria, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Bridlove simply voiced the point of view that Washington needs and declares that Russia to a certain extent supports the opposing sides, thereby preventing existing conflicts from fading. So it was in Serbia and it is happening today in Syria. This allows Moscow to maintain its influence in unstable regions, hiding behind a commitment to diplomatic forms of resolving conflicts and a desire to stop the confrontation of the conflicting parties.
At present, the EC, explained Breedlove, is doing everything possible to restrain Russia and counteract any threats from its side to Washington’s allies and partners. It conducts a wide range of military exercises, demonstrates firm adherence to commitments to ensure collective defense, carries out the necessary measures to achieve the required level of coordination of actions of US military contingents with the troops of their allies and partners, and also works towards ensuring high efficiency of joint actions in the aftermath of natural disasters disasters.
However, the core of all the actions of America is Russia, which prevents Washington from establishing unconditional dictates in various parts of the world and at great expense to draw big goods. In fact, the White House continues to quite frankly prepare for future wars. Even more than 100 years ago, one of the ideologues of Slavophilism, Ivan Sergeyevich Aksakov, said that "if whistles and din come up over the lust for power and the conquering lust of Russia, know that some Western European state is preparing a shameless seizure of someone else's land." At the present time, one can say the same about America. True, the outcome of such wars will not be the seizure of the territories of other countries by America, but the establishment of their unlimited dominance in them.
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