Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270538
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Cheney, pressed by congressional Democrats to cut military spending in response to rapid changes in Europe, testified that his plan would trim $2.4 billion from President Bush's $307 billion defense budget for 1991 and would save $34.8 billion through 1997.
In addition to cutting the proposed number of B-2 bombers from 132 to 75, Cheney said he intends to cut planned purchases of the C-17 long-range transport plane and the Navy's A-12 attack aircraft, and to delay purchases of the Air Force's Advanced Tactical Aircraft and the Advanced Tactical Fighter.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., commended Cheney for "coming to grips with some things he clearly needs to come to grips with" but said Cheney didn't go far enough.
Citing analysts' Wednesday testimony on the internal problems in the Soviet military as well as U.S. intelligence reports predicting instability of the broader Soviet economy, Aspin said Cheney's plan "is based on an unrealistically pessimistic view of the Soviet threat."
Cheney later presented his plan to the Senate Armed Services Committee, where the panel's chairman, Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., gave the Cheney high marks for his efforts but declined to adopt the program totals.
Nunn was puzzled, however, by Cheney's ability to reduce aircraft programs without final figures on the armed forces.
"How can you make the decision on the numbers without having a firm force structure in mind?" Nunn asked.
Cheney said the present situation dictates cuts in the B-2 and C-17, and that possible reductions in aircraft carriers and Air Force wings will decide the other programs.
"I can tell you with some conviction that both the Navy and the Air Force are going to be a lot smaller in the future than they are today," Cheney said.
The Democratic-controlled House is already debating a fiscal 1991 budget that would make significant cuts in proposed Pentagon spending. The Senate is working on its own version.
Cheney told the House committee, "Soviet military capability will continue to be robust but we can in fact afford to slow down the pace of developing and fielding the next generation of aircraft.
He said NATO faces "fewer enemy aircraft and a reduced ground threat" as a result of the dramatic changes sweeping Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
The defense secretary said that although the Soviet Union has consistently found a way to upgrade its military despite economic woes, "We expect the overall performance of their economy to have an impact on what they're able to build and deploy by the way of sophisticated new weapons systems."
Cheney said his proposed cutback would lower the projected cost of the B-2 program from $75.4 billion to $61.1 billion. But, he said, building fewer planes would drive up the cost of a single plane from about $530 million to more than $800 million.
He said he intends to cut the number of B-2 aircraft to be purchased in the next fiscal year to two, from the five proposed at a cost in the fiscal 1991 budget of $5.5 billion. And the maximum number of planes to be built during peak years of production would be reduced to 12 instead of 24, Cheney said.
Conservatives on the House panel suggested that Cheney's plan for the B-2 will help the program survive on Capitol Hill.
"It could make it more palatable to members," Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said after the hearing.
But Rep. Charles Bennett, D-Fla., said lawmakers still will balk at the "imponderable, tremendous amounts of money either for the overall program or the unit cost."
In other specifics, Cheney proposed:
Buying 120 of the C-17 long-range transport planes instead of the 210 originally planned at a proposed savings of $11.9 billion over the life of the program.
Purchasing fewer of the Navy's A-12 all-weather medium attack planes, cutting the original request of 858 to minimum of 620.
by CNB