Bush seeks to cut Guard, Reserve numbers, jet programs

WASHINGTON – President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion next year from two fighter aircraft programs.

The proposals, likely to face opposition on Capitol Hill, come as the Defense Department struggles to trim personnel costs and other programs to pay for an expensive war in Iraq and a host of other pricey aircraft and high-tech programs. Bush will send his 2007 budget to Congress on Feb. 6.

The proposed Army Reserve cut is part of a broader plan to achieve a new balance of troop strength and combat power among the active Army, the National Guard and reserves to fight the global war on terrorism and to defend the homeland.

The Army sent a letter to members of Congress on Thursday outlining the plan. A copy was provided to the Associated Press.

Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 – the current number of slots it is allowed – to 188,000, the number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.

Army leaders have already said they are taking a similar approach to shrinking the National Guard, which the Army is proposing to cut from its authorized level of 350,000 soldiers to 333,000, the number now on National Guard rolls. Some in Congress have vowed to fight the proposed cuts in the National Guard.

Proposals to cut funding in two key jet fighter programs were described by defense analysts and congressional aides, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because the reductions have not been announced.

One plan would eliminate funding for an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, the military’s next generation jet fighter.

The second would cut money for F-22 fighters during 2007. But it is actually a contract restructuring that would add that money back – and more – over the long run by stretching out the program for two additional years and buying up to four more aircraft. The new plan calls for buying 60 aircraft through 2010, rather than 56 over the next two years.

The Joint Strike Fighter’s alternative engine is being built by General Electric and England-based Rolls Royce, and the plan to dump it has already triggered lobbying from as far away as Britain, including a handwritten note from Prime Minister Tony Blair to Bush.

On the home front, the nearly $2 billion cut would affect General Electric engine plants, and possibly jobs, in Ohio and Massachusetts, and a Rolls Royce plant in Indiana.

The proposal would benefit Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney, which got the original contract for the Lockheed Martin aircraft, and delivered its first engine last month.

Defense officials said the Pratt engine has performed well and within budget, and noted that a number of other jet fighter programs – including the F-22 – have just one engine maker.

For the F-22 fighters, original plans to buy 29 in 2007 and 27 the next year were changed to cut funding for production aircraft in 2007, but to buy 20 in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The change would save about $2.3 billion in 2007.