US Congress unmindful of Pentagon’s austerity hints

Though US secretary of defence Robert Gates has issued warnings about the feasibility of defence expenditures being maintained at previous record levels and has also talked about the altered threat scenarios around the world - which preclude the use of heavy-duty conventional weapons platforms - the US Congress has chosen to disregard his advice and allocated funds for weapons platforms that will keep factories in their constituencies humming and arms manufacturing firms pleased.

US defence secretary Robert Gates

Faced with gargantuan budget deficits that need to be balanced Gates has issued warnings that the past decade's ''gusher of defence spending'' is coming to an end.

But his warnings appear to have gone unheeded with the US Congress House Armed Services Committee's passing the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 on 19 May 2010 with a number of items that show utter disregard for the arguments presented by Gtaes.

Amongst the platforms, which have outlived their utility or merely perpetuate the wasteful excesses of previous years, are a second engine for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which Gates has warned will receive a recommendation for a presidential veto at his end.

Though logic has been advanced for the need for a second engine programme for the F-35 JSF Gates has pointed out that matters don't need to be complicated any further in a programme that is already overloaded with complications and is now set to become part of the legendary wasteful programmes that has made the Pentagon notorious over the decades

The Congress has also allocated funds for 30 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, which is eight more than sought for by the Pentagon.