Our annual Department of Defense (DOD) budget is approaching $1 trillion; but our military equipment is drastically aging. Unfortunately, it takes years to manufacture an adequate quantity of new sophisticated weapons. We used over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles and hundreds of interceptor missiles in our war with Iran, which will take over three years to replace. How did the DOD allow this to happen?
In the New Hampshire Union Leader of May 22, George Will, along with a quote from retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, points out “two-thirds of our Air Force, or 2,000 aircraft, are about 50 years old. All of our B-52s were built over 60 years ago. Since 1991 our fighter squadrons have declined from 134 to 56, and the average age of fighter planes has increased from 9.7 years to 30.3 years. The Air Force is more than 2,000 pilots short of requirements.”
A Heritage Foundation Report (HFR) of March 4 states the Army’s equipment is aging, and the Army is not keeping up with modernizing. It is only at 62% of needed forces to respond to more than one Major Regional Contingency (MRC).
The HFR rates our Navy as too small and aging. Shipyards cannot keep up with repair work which delays ships returning to the fleet, and this increases the duration of deployments and fosters lower personnel retention. We have 290 ships but 400 are needed.
The Marine Corps is able to field its requirement of three Marine Expeditionary Units, which are well organized with modern equipment.
We need to upgrade and increase quantities of military equipment; which necessitates increasing our DOD budget to 5% or 6% of GDP.
Donald Moskowitz
Londonderry, New Hampshire