Program cuts let Army keep soldiers, for now - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Program cuts let Army keep soldiers, for now

To meet Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ objectives, the Army has identified $29 billion in savings over the next five years that will allow the service to preserve its force structure in the near term, according to defense officials.

Starting in 2015, the Army will begin to reduce the size of its active-duty force by 27,000 troops. However, until then, it will be able to maintain a force larger than 547,000. Under Gate’s plan the Army will cut 13,500 soldiers in 2015 and another 13,500 in 2016 and end up with an end strength of 520,400.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey announced earlier in the day that the Army is about to finish growing its active-duty force by an additional 22,000 soldiers. The service plans to stay at that level, roughly 569,000 through the end of 2013. Then, the force would begin to come back down to 547,000, he said.

“We need to hold what we got for a few years so that we can reset the force,” Casey said.

Even with the reduction of 27,000 troops beginning in 2015, the Army will be larger than it was in 2007, when Gates approved an additional 65,000 soldiers to help deal with the stress the force was under.

To maintain this size and to accelerate the fielding of items needed in Afghanistan, the Army made funding cuts and identified redundancies in other areas, according to Gates’ announcement.

Some of the savings comes from canceling weapon programs, including the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, Gates said Thursday.

The cancellation of the Non-Line of Sight launch system, announced last May, also contributes to the savings. The system was originally developed for the Army’s Future Combat Systems program.

“Through comprehensive capability portfolio reviews, the Army proposed savings by terminating or reducing weapon systems with declining relevance or unnecessary redundancy,” Army Secretary John McHugh said in an announcement.

The service is also reducing staffing by more than 1,000 positions by “eliminating unneeded task forces and consolidating six installation management commands into four.”

By sustaining existing facilities rather than spending on new construction, the service says it can save $1.4 billion. And, by consolidating the service’s e-mail infrastructure and data centers, the Army should save $500 million over five years, it says.

In addition to maintaining force structure through 2015, the Army plans to invest its savings in improved suicide prevention and substance abuse counseling for soldiers. It also plans to upgrade its fleet of ground vehicles, including Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker wheeled vehicles.

The service will use the savings to accelerate fielding of the Army’s new tactical communications network and its new MQ-1C Grey Eagle UAVs, which are in high demand by commanders in Afghanistan.

The Army also says it will buy more MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft, as well as begin development of a new vertical unmanned air system, a capability that was part of FCS but has since been canceled.