Washington notebook

Budget cuts in sight at the Pentagon – The US Congress is gearing up for a battle over the defence budget this year as the two-year accord of 2013 that reduced the impact of spending caps, known as sequestration, approaches its October expiration date. If the two political parties do not agree on an extension – and it seems unlikely they will – it could lead to drastic spending cutbacks. A few proposed cuts have already reached legislators’ desks.

For Nora Bensahel, a military analyst at American University, “The obvious answer is the F-35”. That is, the Lockheed Martin aircraft that were set to replace many of the current Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps tactical fleets. She does not want to see the programme eliminated, she told the Military Times, but the Air Force “doesn’t need as many of them as it says it needs”.

The new littoral combat ships are also under fire, while other experts suggest reducing the number of active-duty Army personnel. The easiest way to achieve this would be to pull troops from Europe, but that too is looking unlikely given the current hiatus between Ukraine and Russia.
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