It spends almost as much on salaries. As is well known, budgets for buying weapons have dropped precipitously and will have to rise by 2000. But we still have enough good equipment left from the Reagan buildup and Cold War that we can afford to spend more money this decade on base closures and environmental cleanup and less on hardware. Even though official Pentagon doctrine calls for being able to fight and win two major regional wars at once, the nation has probably never had that capability since World War II, and it is hard to see why we should start now. The Navy is busy maintaining presence around the world, but could get by with fewer aircraft carriers and other ships if it changed the way it conducts its mission.
Ships now go on overseas deployment for only about six months at a stretch.
As a result, it takes about five ships to maintain one continuous deployment. On balance, the Pentagon could get by with less money than now planned. The days of big defense cuts are over, and the men and women of the U.S. armed forces can be proud of how well they endured them.