White House Objects To House Panel's Proposed MEADS Cut, Abrams Boost

White House Objects To House Panel's Proposed MEADS Cut, Abrams Boost
25 May 2011

The White House today protested language in the House Armed Services Committee's fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill that

would slash $150 million from the Medium Extended Air Defense System and provide $425 million to keep the Abrams tank production

line humming beyond FY-12.
Cutting the tri-national MEADS program could “trigger a unilateral withdrawal” from the memorandum of understanding with

Germany and Italy, according to a statement of administration policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
House lawmakers sought to avoid just such a scenario in their version of the bill, passed by the defense panel earlier this month. The

legislation cuts $150 million from MEADS based on the presumption that Defense Department leaders would be successful in convincing

German and Italian leaders to follow the U.S. lead to quit the program after FY-13. In that case, the argument goes, the termination costs

would be roughly a third of the approximately $800 million Washington would pay in the event of a unilateral termination.
House and Senate lawmakers critical of MEADS have said the program should be cut because it is no longer slated for fielding

anyway. But any immediate cuts would go against DOD plans to finalize development over the next two-and-a-half years, at a cost of

$800 million. At that time, the thinking in the Office of the Secretary Defense goes, MEADS technologies are fully developed and can be

applied elsewhere.
In their statement, White House officials noted the diplomatic sensitivities surrounding the program, arguing a $150 million reduction

“could call into question DOD's ability to honor its financial commitments in other binding cooperative MOUs, leading to negative

consequences for other current and future international cooperative programs.”
The Obama administration also opposes $452 million added by the House panel to the defense bill for work on Abrams and Bradley

vehicles. The money would help keep the vehicles' production lines open between FY-13 and FY-16, committee lawmakers have

argued. The Army wants to save money by mothballing the Abrams plant during that time.
Lawmakers who inserted the funds argue the production lines should be kept humming with additional upgrades to ensure qualified

workers are on hand in FY-16, when Army tank work is slated to pick up again. Army officials have said the upgrades are unnecessary

because the Abrams fleet is already well modernized. (Source: Inside Defense)


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