Pending $15Bln Shortfall to Slow US Military Modernization

The recent US budget deal leaves a $15 billion hole in defense spending through 2017 that will negatively impact the country’s military modernization programs, US Department of Defense Comptroller Mike McCord said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Under the two-year defense budget plan, signed by President Barack Obama on November 25, the Defense Department will receive approximately $15 billion less in 2017 than it had previously requested.

"One of the ways we will accommodate this $15 billion or so cut, is there will probably be some slowdowns in some modernization programs," McCord stated in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Asked specifically about the US Air Force modernization programs, including the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) and the F-35 fifth generation fighter jet program, McCord noted "there will be some slowdown in a few places."

The US military faces heavy expenses in the coming ten years for upgrades across the service branches. By the mid-2020s the United States will face an estimated $700 billion-plus in costs to modernize its nuclear triad.