WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's 2013 budget, part of the military's search for $489 billion in savings over the next 10 years, calls for two rounds of base closings, according to documents released Monday.
Previous rounds of base closings have pitted communities and states against each other. The installations are major employers around the nation.
The budget signals the proposed shift from troop-intensive nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan to targeting enemies with high-tech weaponry and special operations forces. It also spotlights the change in the military's focus toward the Pacific and Middle East.
The budget adds detail to the outline of the military's future that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta began to unveil as month.
Some highlights:
- It will ask Congress for rounds of base closing in 2013 and 2015. The last round occurred in 2005.
- Funding for special operations forces, such as those who killed Osama bin Laden in May and rescued hostages in Somalia last month, would total $10.4 billion. Another $3.7 billion would buy Reaper and Predator drones that can attack by remote control.
- It includes $300 million to develop the next-generation bomber, a stealthy, long-range plane that could penetrate sophisticated air defense such as those used by the Chinese.
- Changes in military health-care benefits would require increases in enrollment fees and co-payments for some retirees. Pay raises for active-duty troops would be "slowed" after 2014. Pay and benefits have increased 90% since 2001, or 30% more than inflation, according to the Pentagon. The Pentagon will also ask Congress to review retiree benefits.
The budget request for 2013 totals $613 billion, of which $525 billion would be used to buy weapons, pay salaries and conduct research and $88 billion would pay for the war in Afghanistan. In 2012, the comparable figures were a total of $646 billion, of which $531 billion funded the Pentagon's "base budget," and $115 billion was used for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Spending on military construction would take a major hit under the Air Force's proposed fiscal 2013 budget, falling from $1.3 billion to $400 million, according to budget information provided to Air Force Times. The service is calling the nearly 70 percent spending cut a "deliberate pause."
"This one-year pause will give us time to ensure proper investment of limited resources in light of the ongoing budget reduction pressures and potential force structure changes," said Maj. Gen. Edward L. Bolton Jr., Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget.
The Air Force expects to close bases if Congress authorizes a new round of the base realignment and closure process. Speaking to reporters Monday, Bolton would not say which bases might be closed under a new round of BRAC.
"The Air Force isn't in charge of if and when we BRAC," Bolton said. "The secretary has said he's in support of it, and so the Air Force is in line with support of a BRAC."
USA TODAY, Air Force Times