The administration鈥檚 budget recommendations 鈥渇avor a smaller and more capable force,鈥� placing a premium on 鈥渞apidly deployable鈥� troops and gear 鈥渢hat can defeat more technologically advanced adversaries.鈥�
High-tech is the key phrase in this budget. Drones have been integral to the Pentagon鈥檚 military campaigns. The difference in the future, however, is that the Defense Department no longer expects that the drones will operate in uncontested airspace, as they have in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And so the Air Force 鈥渨ill slow the growth of its arsenal of armed, unmanned systems that, while effective against insurgents and terrorists, cannot operate in the face of enemy aircraft and modern air defenses.鈥�
At the same time, the Pentagon is retiring the 50-year-old U2 in favor of the unmanned Global Hawk. And the much-lauded, much-criticized, most-expensive-weapon-in-US-history, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is still a priority for the Pentagon, which will also be putting another $1 billion into 鈥減romising next-generation jet engine technology, which we expect to produce sizable cost savings through reduced fuel consumption and lower maintenance needs.鈥�
This new funding 鈥� in a nod to lawmakers and their pork 鈥� will in turn 鈥渆nsure a robust industrial base,鈥� Hagel added, 鈥渋tself a national strategic asset.鈥�
