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....
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