Because they represent massive jobs programs and much-desired military capability, major weapons programs are almost never canceled. Rare exceptions, such as the Navy's canceled A-12 attack plane, prove the rule. The services argued, however, that their modernization programs have been starved for most of the 1990s, and that they must replace aging aircraft or risk losing the critical technological edge that ensures superiority. But a continuing spate of real-world contingencies has given the services little room to relax operations schedules or training regimes. With the other major pillars of defense spending largely off the table, the QDR is likely to recommend major cuts in basing and support infrastructure.
Major personnel cuts at military depots and base closings are politically explosive.
Largely to protect home-state military installations, which could shift location if fully privatized, key Members of Congress have pushed through a requirement that government employees conduct 60 per cent of the work at such facilities. Several lawmakers have warned that they will fight Cohen's May 6 recommendation to reconvene the Commission on Base Realignment and Closure. In terms of transforming the military to meet and fund those challenges, however, there is a disconnect.