Gates' View

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned military leaders not to revert back to a 20th-century philosophy of warfare after he leaves his post, and predicted difficult budgetary constraints near the end of this decade, in a speech at the Air Force Academy this morning.

Speaking to a crowd of young airmen, Gates addressed the current and future budget constraints all the military services can expect. In response to a question about future program cuts, Gates said that in 2009, he presented Congress with a list of 33 programs that should be canceled or curtailed. Of those only one is still ongoing: the second engine for the F-35 that House lawmakers voted to kill last week.

However, Gates warned that he expected leaner budget years near the end of the 2010s. As a result, the secretary has pushed to fund large projects, like the development of an Air Force next-generation bomber, in the present.

“The Air Force is going to face a big challenge" in the coming years, Gates said. “Whether we can fund a new tanker, F-35, a new bomber and all of these other capabilities simultaneously is going to be a tough question that people will have to confront.” If he didn't get those programs started now, future government officials and service leaders would be left with far fewer options, Gates added.

To that end, the secretary praised the joint operations performed by all the military services, but lamented that the services “do not procure jointly.” He cited the F-35 program, despite its many delays and cost overruns, as a model for cooperative procurement among the services.

Gates also urged future leaders to hold “a comprehensive and integrated” view of the service's future needs, which should include the continued development of unmanned capabilities and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools. The Air Force now counts on a UAV fleet six times larger than was projected in 2000, he said.

“I'm concerned that the view still lingers in some corners that once I depart as secretary of defense and U.S. forces draw down in Iraq and Afghanistan, things can get back to what some consider 'real Air Force normal,'” Gates said. “This must not happen.”

The speech marked Gates' third, and according to him, final visit to the Air Force Academy in his time as defense secretary.