Gates announces major Pentagon priority shifts

The priorities include a stronger institutional commitment to the military’s all-volunteer force, a decision to “rebalance” defense programs to better fight current and future conflicts, and “fundamental overhauls” of the military’s procurement, acquisition and contracting process. Among other things, Gates called for production of the Air Force’s most expensive fighter, the F-22 Raptor, to be phased out by fiscal year 2011. He also called for terminating a proposed fleet of 23 presidential helicopters estimated to cost more than $13 billion. The proposed fleet, he noted, was originally projected to cost $6.5 billion. It “has fallen six years behind schedule and runs the risk

~ by Jansen =) on April 6, 2009.