Navy, Marines to lose personnel, but budget hit is minimal
WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps will lose about 5,000 troops, and the Navy will cut 2,500 civilian personnel under the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget plan.
The Navy will also significantly slow down major equipment purchases in coming years, getting only 10 new ships and fewer than 200 aircraft next year, as part of an effort to save more than $13 billion by 2018.
Officials also announced Monday that, due to cost concerns, they’ll drop plans to relocate an aircraft carrier from Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to Naval Station Mayport in Florida.
Navy officials said they expect end strength to drop to 322,700 by the end of fiscal 2013, down about 3,000 from the previous year, but it will remain steady through 2013. Another 3,000 are expected to be cut in subsequent years.
The two services will see a $1.4 billion base budget cut in fiscal 2013 — down less than 1 percent, to $155.9 billion — and an overall cut of about $3 billion when overseas contingency funds are factored in.
The new ships on order for fiscal 2013 include two Virginia-class submarines, two DDG-51 class Aegis Destroyers, and four Littoral Combat Ships. Eleven others will be retired, leaving the service with a fleet of 284 ships, far below what many defense advocates on Capitol Hill have pushed for in recent years.
Military officials also announced plans to kill off the Medium-Range Maritime Unmanned Aerial System program, saving about $1.5 billion in the next five years, and reduce purchases of the MV-22 Osprey aircraft, the Joint High Speed Vessels program and the P-8A Maritime Aircraft program.
Officials said the Marine end-strength cuts, the first step in plans to trim that force by 20,000 over the next five years, will still allow the Corps to be a “versatile middleweight force” and remain engaged in Afghanistan in coming years. Plans calls for most of those cuts to come among Marines with fewer than six years’ service.
Those personnel reductions account for most of the Marine Corps’ budget hit next year, but the force will also see reductions in new construction projects by more than $450 million and reductions in ground vehicle purchases by roughly $100 million.
Navy officials said the short-term cuts will help create about $58 billion in savings for the department over the next five years. Nearly $18 billion of that comes from the planned personnel cuts.
shanel@stripes.osd.mil
Twitter: @LeoShane
