Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
August 15, 2007
Forecasting "decades" of "persistent conflict," top U.S. Army Gen. George Casey called on Washington leaders and the U.S. public to ante up and sustain a multiyear effort to grow, modernize and reorganize the "stressed and strained" land force.
"It's hard for me to believe we're really not in for decades of persistent conflict," the Army chief of staff told a National Press Club audience Aug. 14.
The former commander of coalition forces in Iraq said six factors are painting a picture of prolonged instability worldwide: positive and negative effects of globalization; competition for energy; youth population bulges in less-developed nations; climate change; weapons of mass destruction proliferation; and failed states acting as safe havens for terrorist organizations.
In turn, the Army must continue transforming toward campaign-style capabilities, yet will require the greatest changeover since it repositioned after World War II for the Cold War, Casey said.
In questions after his speech, Casey further praised the roles of air and space capabilities in the Army, called Army aviation a "critical" factor in its warfighting capabilities, and related that combatant commanders would like even more such inherent capacity.
While he acknowledged that additional new spending would be difficult to achieve under current budget conditions, he lauded Army air modernization efforts paid for by the Comanche's cancellation and asked Congress to undo legislated cuts to the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH).
The Army's FY '08 regular and supplemental budget asked for around $691 million for 66 ARHs (including more than $222 million in the supplemental request for 29 ARHs). The House has neither authorized nor appropriated the baseline request of $468.5 million for 37 ARHs (supplemental appropriations will be debated later this year).
The House Armed Services Committee asked the Army to recompete the program while Senate counterparts transferred or cut hundreds of millions of dollars from ARH procurement and asked for a program restructuring.
Casey expressed similar concerns with congressional intentions to scale back the fiscal 2008 budget for the Army's Future Combat Systems, but declared that otherwise the Army is in "pretty good shape" under FY '08 defense bills working their way through Capitol Hill.
The House's defense authorization bill would cut $876 million in research and development (R&D) funding from FCS, while the Senate Armed Service Committee's version would add $115 million. Meanwhile, the House defense appropriations bill would cut $433.8 million from the $3.6 billion FCS R&D request but add $25 million for systems engineering and program management of small business technology insertion.
-- Michael Bruno
August 15, 2007
Forecasting "decades" of "persistent conflict," top U.S. Army Gen. George Casey called on Washington leaders and the U.S. public to ante up and sustain a multiyear effort to grow, modernize and reorganize the "stressed and strained" land force.
"It's hard for me to believe we're really not in for decades of persistent conflict," the Army chief of staff told a National Press Club audience Aug. 14.
The former commander of coalition forces in Iraq said six factors are painting a picture of prolonged instability worldwide: positive and negative effects of globalization; competition for energy; youth population bulges in less-developed nations; climate change; weapons of mass destruction proliferation; and failed states acting as safe havens for terrorist organizations.
In turn, the Army must continue transforming toward campaign-style capabilities, yet will require the greatest changeover since it repositioned after World War II for the Cold War, Casey said.
In questions after his speech, Casey further praised the roles of air and space capabilities in the Army, called Army aviation a "critical" factor in its warfighting capabilities, and related that combatant commanders would like even more such inherent capacity.
While he acknowledged that additional new spending would be difficult to achieve under current budget conditions, he lauded Army air modernization efforts paid for by the Comanche's cancellation and asked Congress to undo legislated cuts to the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH).
The Army's FY '08 regular and supplemental budget asked for around $691 million for 66 ARHs (including more than $222 million in the supplemental request for 29 ARHs). The House has neither authorized nor appropriated the baseline request of $468.5 million for 37 ARHs (supplemental appropriations will be debated later this year).
The House Armed Services Committee asked the Army to recompete the program while Senate counterparts transferred or cut hundreds of millions of dollars from ARH procurement and asked for a program restructuring.
Casey expressed similar concerns with congressional intentions to scale back the fiscal 2008 budget for the Army's Future Combat Systems, but declared that otherwise the Army is in "pretty good shape" under FY '08 defense bills working their way through Capitol Hill.
The House's defense authorization bill would cut $876 million in research and development (R&D) funding from FCS, while the Senate Armed Service Committee's version would add $115 million. Meanwhile, the House defense appropriations bill would cut $433.8 million from the $3.6 billion FCS R&D request but add $25 million for systems engineering and program management of small business technology insertion.
-- Michael Bruno