Sequestration = Degridation in Defense Capabilities

[TimothyC]

A pair of articles.

AFSPC Readies for Sequestration
Release Number: 130201

2/8/2013 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- As a consequence of the pending sequestration, Air Force Space Command conducted detailed planning and is now readying for significant cuts and reductions.

"This budget situation is unprecedented in my 36 years of service," said General William L. Shelton, Commander, Air Force Space Command. "With no appropriation bill for fiscal year 2013, our ability to plan for FY14 and 15 is even more uncertain."

"What I am absolutely certain of, however," said General Shelton, "is that the foundational capabilities space and cyber bring to the defense of this Nation must be protected. Not only protected, but as Deputy Secretary of Defense Carter said recently, to support our new strategy, we must also enhance those areas, making substantial advances and investments in space and cyber."

General Shelton added, "Given the current budget environment, reductions are unavoidable, but space and cyber systems have less flexibility to reduce operations tempo as most of our weapon systems must operate continuously to accomplish the assigned missions for the Nation."

Air Force Space Command recently provided the Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget actions it would be forced to take should sequestration occur on 1 March, 2013.

- Reduce some missile warning and space surveillance 24/7 hour operations to 8/7 hour operations, impacting national missile warning, missile defense, space situational awareness, and the intelligence community

- Reduce by 75 percent sustainment of an older communications satellite constellation with significant, residual capability; potentially impacting military communications worldwide; likely shortening the on-orbit life of older generation satellites

- Suspend Air Force-wide Engineering and Installation (E&I) work plans to include a new control tower, a new instrument landing system, a SATCOM facility, and mass notification system upgrades

- Terminate Global Combat Support System-hosted applications to include the following: Nuclear Weapons Material Tracking Capability and Explosive Ordinance Disposal Management System; losing significant capability

- Prioritize and curtail and/or cancel operational training exercises and international partnership exercises; including many with joint (such as Joint Airlift/Army Airborne Training) and international partners, will be impacted in some way, whether cancelled, scaled back, or postponed

- Reduce Professional Military Education and Mission Readiness Training quotas. This action has a direct impact on Airman promotion eligibility by not meeting the prerequisite to wear the next rank. This significantly impacts the readiness of our Airmen to conduct day-to-day operations

"The way America fights today is underpinned by the assets Air Force Space Command provides," said General Shelton. "No matter what size the United States military becomes, our Nation counts on space and cyber capabilities to enable all total force, joint operations, giving us the global capabilities we need."

For more information contact AFSPC Public Affairs at (719) 554-3731.

Bolding mine. Wouldn't want to fully fund actual defense/early warning systems.

February 9, 2013
Navy Delays Lincoln Refueling, Cites 'Lack Of Funds'
Enterprise defueling and USS GW overhaul also impacted
By Michael Welles Shapiro

The Navy said Friday it is postponing Newport News Shipbuilding's long-planned refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Citing "a lack of funding," Lt. Courtney Hillson, a Navy spokeswoman, said in a statement that the "Lincoln will remain at Naval Station Norfolk," until money is made available for the project through one of two budgetary mechanisms.

The ship had been set to steam into dry dock in Newport News Thursday. Now with the delay, Hillson said the Lincoln will stay put while the "ship's sailors continue to conduct maintenance."

And she added that the decision will have a domino effect on other Newport News carrier maintenance projects because the shipyard now has to rearrange its dry dock schedule. Specifically, she predicted "impacts to the recently inactivated Enterprise defueling and the start of USS George Washington's RCOH."

In a letter to employees, shipyard president Matt Mulherin stressed that the RCOH was not canceled and urged shipbuilders not to let Friday's news become a distraction.

"We are very disappointed and frustrated at this turn of events; however, we understand the Navy's decision given the current national budget crisis and the lack of a defense appropriations bill," Mulherin wrote.

"While we hope to find a resolution soon, any delay in the Lincoln's arrival will clearly impact the efficiency of the original plan and the Navy's operational readiness," he said in the letter. "We will continue to work closely with our customer so that when the decision is made to move Lincoln into dry dock, we can do so as seamlessly as possible."

In a news release, shipyard spokeswoman Christie Miller said prep work on the Lincoln as well as work on the contract for the ship's midlife overhaul will proceed, despite the hurdle presented by the Navy's decision.

"We continue to actively negotiate the Lincoln RCOH contract with the Navy, and we intend to continue our efforts on the ship at the Navy base in Norfolk and will work to make as much progress as possible, as efficiently as possible, prior to its arrival," Miller said.

In the weeks leading up to the postponement decision, Pentagon officials have said they were looking for areas to cut because they were not prepared to operate under a continuing resolution that froze defense spending at 2012 levels.

The size and scope of the four-year overhaul made the RCOH a large target. The deferral is also the latest in a string of drastic money saving measures, announced by defense officials.

The Pentagon recently postponed indefinitely its deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman., a move that forced thousands of families of sailors preparing to ship off to make last second arrangements.

But the Lincoln overhaul is the first large shipyard project to get shuffled around to save money.

"(T)his reduction would significantly impact thousands of skilled shipyard workers, who have labored to develop their skills and will represent a blow to the future capabilities of Newport News to deliver timely and cost effective ships to the fleet," said U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, who first announced the Navy's decision.

In a phone interview, Forbes said the decision is a reminder that defense funding is insufficient "to weather bumps in the road."

And he said its imperative Congress takes quick action to restore funding to the Pentagon: "We need to get a Defense Authorization bill passed."

Beyond that, Forbes said he favors "taking national defense out of this sequestration craziness," across-the-board cuts that would hit all federal agencies and have a longer term impact on the Newport News shipyards.

U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, whose district includes the shipyard, said the postponement decision is shameful.

"The men and women at Newport News Shipbuilding, who build, repair, and maintain the most advanced naval fleet in the world, deserve better than this," Scott said.

As recently as Thursday, Miller, the shipyard spokeswoman, said workers were busy making preparations for the Lincoln under the assumption that a contract would be finalized. The potential for a delay was reported in Friday's Daily Press.

Carrier RCOHs are intricate projects that add up to billions of dollars in revenue for Huntington Ingalls Industries the parent company of the shipyard, which is also the nation's only manufacturer of new aircraft carriers.

The overhauls involve refueling a carrier's reactors, performing repairs and upgrading its systems after more than two decades of wear and tear. The Lincoln, which until August had been stationed at Naval Station Everett, Wash., was commissioned in November 1989.

The original contract for the ongoing RCOH of the USS Theodore Roosevelt was worth $2.43 billion, and contract modifications have increased the overall price tag to $2.59 billion.

Deferring the Lincoln overhaul helps the Pentagon stay within a 2012 budget allocation, and top Navy officials have identified a number of upcoming shipbuilding and ship repair projects not finalized through contracts as possible targets.

The Navy's reaction to the lower budget amount has "essentially cancelled all 3rd- and 4th-quarter (maintenance) availabilities," said retired Rear Adm. Joe Carnevale, referring to the six-month period starting in April.

Carnevale, a senior defense advisor with the Shipbuilders Council of America, said the impacts of the delayed projects would be devastating for the industry and especially smaller repair yards and contractors.

"There are many small businesses that won't be able to survive a 6-month hiatus," he said.

Another senior defense advisor with the council, Ashley Godwin, said that so far the preparation work for the Lincoln has been funded in a piecemeal fashion.

The shipyard has received about $700 million for advance planning in four installments, according to a Department of Defense web site.

Godwin said it's possible the Navy could find just enough money to get the overhaul started, rather than signing a more comprehensive contract covering the four years overhauls traditionally take.

Pivot to the Pacific looks more like a pivot to port by way of not funding.

[Ace Pace]

This is halfway bullshit and you know it. The services are picking the most political issues to cut because that's going to pressure congress to do different. They could easily pick pushing back long term plans, reducing the amount of contractors and cutting wasted manpower, but that's not sexy.

No doubt deep cuts are going to be made, but the decisions on what specifically to cut, are made for political purposes. The same circus happens every year in the IDF when the budget rolls around.

[Lonestar]

DoD also is given leeway in coming up with the "10%" cut. Other agencies, however, must accept a 10% cut across the board.

[Sea Skimmer]

This is halfway bullshit and you know it. The services are picking the most political issues to cut because that's going to pressure congress to do different. They could easily pick pushing back long term plans, reducing the amount of contractors and cutting wasted manpower, but that's not sexy.

No you just have precious little idea what you are talking about apparently. Easily push back long term plans? Sorry life don't work that way. You can't just tell say, the designers of the F-35, to do no more work for the rest of the year and expect to come back to the job in 2014. Operations and maintenance funding are going to be what get cut, in fact they are about all that can be cut easily. Almost everything mentioned falls under that category for a reason, and most of it involves a lots of contractors. In fact part of the DoD plan right now is furloughs for every civilian in the department.

Long term projects are locked into long term contracts the suspension of which would be crippling, and involve massive penalty fees anyway, while cutting uniformed end strength can only happen with specific congressional authorization. And no way is congress going to approve cutting the size of the army and marine corps right now when they can't agree on a budget in the first place. The problem isn't that cuts are impossible, the problem is its still being done in the most ass stupid way possible. But then that was supposed to be the point, to force some kind of real agreement.

[Rycon67]

Pivot to the Pacific looks more like a pivot to port by way of not funding.

I read over on Navy times the carrier Harry S. Truman and the cruiser Gettysburg, both of which where to go to the Middle East this month, had their deployment cancelled. That and I've heard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was supposed to begin her 4 year refueling process sometime later this month has had it delayed.

The Army is also complaining that due to budget uncertainty, any stateside forces not due to rotate to Afghanistan, or forces not slated for duty in Korea many not recieve any significant training duty above the squad and platoon level.

Haven't heard from the Marines, someone probably gave them a supply of fresh meat and their settled in their cages for the week.

[KlavoHunter]

Let's be fair, ARE MILLYTARY is the only way to get through to purestrain warhawk conservatives.

[Irbis]

So, budgetary uncertainty is bad? Threatening to bankrupt country by not raising debt limit might have serious consequences? Who would have guessed, certainly not R-guys

Though, I find pitching of 'reducing some missile warning and space surveillance 24/7 hour operations to 8/7 hour operations' cute. Who exactly is going to attack USA now? Afghanistan? And who exactly picks essential programs to be cut as a sort of deterrent, instead of, say, cutting some excess units from Bush-era growth? Is anyone competent still in overall control or are US armed forces too big to oversee centrally anymore?

[Block]

So, budgetary uncertainty is bad? Threatening to bankrupt country by not raising debt limit might have serious consequences? Who would have guessed, certainly not R-guys

Though, I find pitching of 'reducing some missile warning and space surveillance 24/7 hour operations to 8/7 hour operations' cute. Who exactly is going to attack USA now? Afghanistan? And who exactly picks essential programs to be cut as a sort of deterrent, instead of, say, cutting some excess units from Bush-era growth? Is anyone competent still in overall control or are US armed forces too big to oversee centrally anymore?

There are just as many politics involved in how units are structured and paid for as there are in presidential elections. Shrinking command sizes eliminates Generals, and they'll of course fight tooth and nail to avoid losing their careers.