Tough Scrutiny of Defense Program Needed - Gates

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday vowed to reform the way the Pentagon buys weapons and said budget pressures resulting from two wars and the economic crisis would force tough choices in coming years.

"We will not be able to 'do everything, buy everything' ... I believe now is the time to take action," Gates said in testimony prepared for the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gates singled out procurement as one of the biggest challenges facing the Pentagon, and said finding a solution would require the support of industry and Congress.

AP

"I believe that the FY 2010 budget must make hard choices. Any necessary changes should avoid across-the-board adjustments, which inefficiently extend all programs," he said.

He said long-standing systemic problems had resulted in "the situation we face today, where a small set of expensive weapons programs has had repeated -- and unacceptable -- problems with requirements, schedule, cost and performance."

Gates said the department had already begun to purchase weapons at more efficient rates, and he would work to buy larger quantities of systems that represent the '75 percent solution' instead of waiting for a nearly perfect system.

The Pentagon also needed to ensure that services did not continue to add requirements once a weapons program began, and write contracts that gave incentives for good work.

"The department should seek increased competition, use of prototypes and ensure technology maturity so that our programs are ready for the next phases of development," Gates said.

Gates said military operations had become better integrated across the services, but their budget and procurement decisions were still largely separate, and sometimes duplicative.

"To address a given risk, we may have to invest more in the future-oriented program of one service and less in that of another service -- particularly when both programs were conceived with the same threat in mind," Gates said.

Five major weapons programs accounted for half of total cost growth in weapons spending, Gates told the committee:

• Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
• Boeing's Future Combat Systems Army modernization program
• the Virginia Class attack submarines built by General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman
• the Pentagon's primary satellite-launch program, a joint effort of Lockheed and Boeing
• a program to destroy the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons which includes a number of defense contractors

Gates served as defense secretary for the last two years of the Bush administration but has agreed to stay on under President Barack Obama. The Bush administration prepared a budget proposal for defense spending in fiscal 2010, which begins on Oct. 1, that totals around $580 billion.

The budget is traditionally presented to Congress the first Monday in February, but Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman on Monday said the White House would probably not release a detailed plan for military spending until April.

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.