Despite efforts by the Arkansas congressional delegation and the Fort Smith community, the 188th Fighter Wing will lose its A-10 aircraft mission.
In December, Congress approved a $640.5 billion defense authorization bill that included a provision that would replace the A-10 planes based in Fort Smith with remotely piloted aircraft - drones.
The Air Force chief of staff recently visited Fort Smith at the urging of the Arkansans in Congress. It did not change the decision, however.
At least part of the rationale is based on the principle that each state is supposed to have at least one Air National Guard flying unit and some of the other states that have A-10 units have no other units.
However, Arkansas also has the 189th Airlift Wing, based at Little Rock Air Force Base as part of the operations there - though the status and mission ofthe Little Rock base have been questioned at times.
Losing the A-10 mission is a definite blow to the Fort Smith region. Although it is unclear exactly what the impact will be, the expectation is that there will be a reduction in personnel for the new mission.
All this has to be seen in the broader context of what is happening with the federal budget, including defense spending and needs.
In a time of imperative belt-tightening, not everyone can be a winner when it comes to allocation of federal funds.
Among the oft cials in Fort Smith for the Air Forcechief’s visit was newly elected Republican Rep.
Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Cotton said, “As our nation faces sobering cuts to defense spending,” it was important that the 188th had the chance “to demonstrate their capabilities and eff ectiveness.”
Cotton had already received national attention as an antispending hardliner. Unlike others from Arkansas in Washington, Cotton voted against disaster relief funding for the areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Although it might in some respects be an admirable stand - opposing disaster assistance funding without equivalent cuts elsewhere in the budget - what happens if there is a large-scale disaster in his home district?
Cotton is also drawing notice for his adamant opposition to President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the new secretary of defense, even though the House of Representatives has norole in considering the nomination, that being a Senate prerogative. He calls the Hagel nomination a “grievous mistake.” Cotton, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, says Hagel, a Vietnam vet, abandoned the troops in Iraq by favoring a withdrawal in 2006. Cotton refers to the “folly” of Hagel’s support for withdrawal after the then-Republican senator originally supported the 2003 invasion. In fact, Hagel came to recognize the Iraq action for what it was, a misguided and extremely costly venture.
Most of the opposition to Hagel, whose confi rmation hearing is this week, comes from the neo-conservatives who so ardently promoted the war in Iraq. Hagel is also criticized for being insuft ciently supportive of Israel.
Arkansas Sens. Mark Pryor and John Boozman have not committed themselves on the Hagel nomination. An anti-Hagel group called Americans for a Strong Defense istargeting Pryor with TV ads urging viewers to contact him and ask him to oppose the nomination because Hagel would, according to the ad, make “devastating defense cuts” and “weaken America.”
Hagel has referred to the defense budget as “bloated,” and he is correct.
But cutting is a challenge.
Military installations around the country, like the 188th, have strong local support and defense contractors have their constituencies as well, with communities benefiting from a flourishing defense industry. Congress has regularly interceded on behalf of favored bases and programs, overriding Pentagon plans.
From 2002 to 2011, profi ts of the five largest defense contractors increased by 450 percent. Their profi ts increased from $2.4 billion in 2002, adjusted for inflation, to $13.4 billion in 2011, according to Lawrence Korb, an expert on Pentagon spending. U.S. defense spending is more than the next 10 nations combinedand accounts for 55 percent of all federal discretionary spending.
Assuming Hagel is approved, he and the Congress need to face the necessity to cut spending while keeping pace with cutting-edge technology, force modernization and strategic rebalancing.
Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, who was strongly committed to saving the 188th’s fl ying mission, could have a voice on the defense budget as a new member of the House’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
In his inaugural address, President Obama said a decade of war is ending.
The decade’s two wars were basically put on our credit card and we’ll be paying the bills for years. In the meantime, if we are going to see any real progress in trimming federal spending, the Defense Department can’t be a sacred cow.
HOYT PURVIS IS A JOURNALISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROFESSOR.
Opinion, Pages 11 on 01/27/2013