The Marine Corps is planning steep cuts to one of its largest modernization programs -- the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle -- as part of a wider effort to recalibrate its forces to better fight irregular combatants, according to internal Pentagon budget documents.
The cuts are spelled out in a summary of the Marine Corps’ new six-year spending plan obtained by InsideDefense.com. The plan also includes “significant changes” to tactical aviation, including purchases of 25 fewer MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey aircraft and 35 fewer Joint Strike Fighter aircraft between fiscal years 2008 and 2013.
The Marine Corps six-year program “has been rebalanced to shift resources from conventional to irregular capabilities and capacities,” states a 10-page executive summary of the service’s program objective memorandum for FY-08 to FY-13.
Readjustments include increases to Marine Corps intelligence and command and control programs and cuts to spending on air defense capabilities that will result in termination of two programs -- the Complementary Low Altitude Weapons System (CLAWS) and the Highly Expeditionary Long Range Air Surveillance Radar (HELRASR).
Also facing cuts in the new six-year plan are the Expeditionary Fire Support System and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, “despite their capability to support irregular warfare operations,” according to the summary....
Marines Cut, Kill Programs To Improve Irregular Warfare Capabilities
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