US Military considering 'surgical' cuts.

[spider]

Are we in our lifetime beginning to see the decline of the US asthe worlds foremost military superpower?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16420660

[morpheus]

well let them pull all of their troops etc out, what about Europe which for years has chipped away at its armed forces, whilst happily allowing thousands of US forces and their equipment and skills defend our borders and airspace, ourselves not excluded.

now we (the EU) will all have to get off our fat ar$es and either increase defence budgets or else sit back and pray nobody invades us.

[SwiftandSure]

If the US want an excuse to bolster their forces again, they need only drift into the Strait of Hormuz in "Iranian waters" sometime soon.

[RoyalGreenJacket]

now we (the EU) will all have to get off our fat ar$es and either increase defence budgets or else sit back and pray nobody invades us.

some alot more than others i might add.

[Truck Driver]

Are we in our lifetime beginning to see the decline of the US asthe worlds foremost military superpower?

Not necessarily

With satellites able to give real time footage of what is going on, along with large naval and air fleets which can deploy Bdes of troops around
the world in a matter of hours, then there would have to be a question around having large bodies of standing forces in different locations
around the world.

Eighty thousand plus troops in Europe ? With the demise of the Soviet Union, the reason for same is largely a moot point



The Brits, even, will have pulled their entire BAOR out by (I think) 2020, if memory serves me correctly

[Jungle]

Are we in our lifetime beginning to see the decline of the US asthe worlds foremost military superpower?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16420660

I don't think so; the US has been trying to reduce it's European presence for decades, but was always faced with resistance from European countries. Like Morpheus says, it's time Europe takes care of it's own defence. They will likely keep a few brigades there, like the 173rd ABN in Italy, and some bases in Germany.

We went through that in the early 90s, when we closed our 2 bases in Germany (Lahr and Baden); for years some locals had been complaining about our presence, but when we decided to leave, they went into panic mode when they realized the impact on the local economies. I'm guessing what we will see in the coming years will be a lot worse, especially with the current European economic situation.

[Goldie fish]

POTUS making a statement on the issue NOW.

[DeV]

When will they learn?

Air power alone can't win wars!

Ah sure maybe airpower and seapower can

[spider]

So no firm details yet - but it seems a re-orientation of forces in the Pacific.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16430405

The link on that article is interesting - India really emerging as a military force in Asia as well as China.

And all this at a time when Russia is re-arming and modernising its forces.

Interesting times.If they pull out from Europe it will indeed have far reaching economic consequences for Germany and perhaps the UK if many of the airbases in the south of England close.

[Goldie fish]

Obama promises agile, flexible military, despite cuts

Thursday, January 05, 2012 - 06:14 PM


President Barack Obama insisted today that the United States will maintain what he calls the best-equipped military in US history despite deep and looming defence budget cuts.

But Pentagon leaders acknowledged the changes carry additional risk.

"Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority," Obama said in a rare appearance in the Pentagon briefing room.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and a row of top military brass lined the stage behind him, underscoring Pentagon support for cuts that Panetta and others said they know will be criticised as too drastic.

Obama said the strategy is designed to contend with hundreds of billions of dollars in budget cuts and refocus the United States' national security priorities after a decade dominated by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The strategy, devised through a comprehensive review by civilian and military leaders, centred on the military the country needs after the "long wars of the last decade are over", Obama said.

Panetta said smaller military budgets will mean some trade-offs and that the US will take on "some level of additional but acceptable risk".

But he said that in a changing world, the Pentagon would have been forced to make a strategy shift anyway. He says the money crisis merely forced the government to face the shift that is taking place now.

The president announced that the military will be reshaped over time with an emphasis on countering terrorism, maintaining a nuclear deterrent, protecting the US homeland, and "deterring and defeating aggression by any potential adversary".

Those are not new military missions, and Obama announced no new capabilities or defence initiatives. He described a US force that will retain much of its recent focus, with the exception of fighting a large-scale, prolonged conflict like the newly ended Iraq mission or the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

"As we end today's wars and reshape our armed forces, we will ensure that our military is agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies," he wrote in a preamble to the new strategy, which is titled, Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defence.

The strategy hints at a reduced US military presence in Europe and says Asia will be a bigger priority. It also emphasises improving US capabilities in the areas of cyberwarfare and missile defence.

China is a particular worry because of its economic dynamism and rapid defence buildup. A more immediate concern is Iran, not only for its threats to disrupt the flow of international oil but also for its nuclear ambitions.

Obama's decision to announce the strategy himself underscores the political dimension of Washington's debate over defence savings. The administration says smaller Pentagon budgets are a must but will not come at the cost of sapping the strength of a military in transition, even as it gets smaller.

In a presidential election year, the strategy gives Obama a rhetorical tool to defend his Pentagon budget-cutting choices.

Republican contenders for the White House already have criticised Obama on a wide range of national security issues, including missile defence, Iran and planned reductions in ground forces.

The new strategy moves the US further from its long-standing goal of being able to successfully fight two major regional wars - like the 1991 Gulf War to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait or a prospective ground war in Korea - at the same time.

The document released today made clear that while some current missions of the military will be curtailed, none will be scrapped entirely.

"Wholesale divestment of the capability to conduct any mission would be unwise, based on historical and projected uses of US military forces and our inability to predict the future," the document said.

The administration and Congress already are trimming defence spending to reflect the closeout of the Iraq war and the drawdown in Afghanistan. The massive $662bn (€517.7bn) defence budget planned for next year is $27bn (€21.1bn) less than Obama wanted and $43bn (€33.bn) less than Congress gave the Pentagon this year.

The Pentagon announced no specifics on the size of expected troop reductions; the Army and Marine Corps already are set to shrink beginning in 2015.

The document said the Pentagon will have to find savings in pay and healthcare benefits for members of the military, but it offered no specifics.


Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/...#ixzz1ickpu89z

[faughanballagh]

Makes sense.

[Pure Hover]

As the President said the tide of war may be receeding but like all tides it comes back in. The shift in focus to the Asia Pacific region indicates the next most likely area of conflict although I'm not sure if Iran could be included in that summary! With cuts of that magnitude on the cards it'll be interesting to see if some of the major weapons or aircraft programs survive the cuts.

However with 11 carrier strike groups it's hard to see US military power waning in the short to medium term.

[Truck Driver]

We went through that in the early 90s, when we closed our 2 bases in Germany (Lahr and Baden);

There is an excellent aviation museum in Baden Airport - found out by accident when collecting my wife there for a weekend stay
while I was working in Germany in 2007

Ryanair flies direct from Dublin to here a couple of days a week (or did in 2007 anyway), so this would be an option if considering
a trip to Germany, to avoid having to take two flights (via the UK, Paris, or Amsterdam, for instance)

....The link on that article is interesting - India really emerging as a military force in Asia as well as China.

Sounds like the plot line from a Tom Clancy book - "Red Storm Rising", I think

[Goldie fish]

India is emerging as a major force in the area, and its neighbours are very jealous.. and unstable.

[Pod]

Sounds like the plot line from a Tom Clancy book - "Red Storm Rising", I think

Nah - more like the japan with Nukes one - just can't remeber the name at the mo.