Army Would Lose SAM, Launch System, Some Jobs

The administration’s austerity plan would terminate the SLAMRAAM surface-to-air missile and Non-Line of Sight Launch system, which was planned as an integral part of the Future Combat System. The Army would also consolidate six installation commands into four, and eliminate unneeded task forces, thus eliminating more than 1,000 jobs. Other plans include improving existing facilities rather than building new ones in order to save $1.4 billion in military construction costs, and consolidating email infrastructure and data centers, which would save $500 million over a five-year period. In total, the Army hopes to generate $39 billion in savings within five years. Resources would shift toward improvement of suicide and substance abuse counseling services, and modernization of the M1 Abrams tank, Bradley fighting vehicle, and Stryker wheeled vehicle inventories.  The service also would pursue quicker improvement of the service’s new tactical communications network and procurement of Grey Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles, and purchase of more MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft.