European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday january 22, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 3 in an Era of budget constraints the air Force is pushing its big ticket b-2 stealth bomber As a conventional bomber for use in third world hot spills. Services slice up each other Over budget pie by Melissa Kiealy los Angeles times Washington what is the difference Between the marines and the army the marines secure a building by smashing in the door bursting in and shooting everybody inside. The army docs it by securing a three year lease on the building with an option to extend. The joke the marines Way of poking fun at the army s bureaucratic approach was one of the Early salvos in a new form of combat Between the military services the struggle to deflect the budgetary a that is about to fall on the Pentagon. Throughout much of the 1980s, As the defense Bud get was growing camaraderie Between the services nourished. But now that Secretary of defense Dick Cheney is cutting the budget and Congress is preparing to slash still deeper the Pentagon is a Seething cauldron of conflict. As the apparent threat from the soviet Union appears to Wane the military services arc scrambling to redefine their missions and arc cutting each other up in the process. The Navy and air porch arc at each other s throats. The Marine corps is mounting a flank attack against the army. The army traditionally above the fray is fighting Back. In october an article in the . Naval Institute s monthly Magazine complained that the air Force in pushing its top priority b-2 stealth bomber As a con Van Lionas bomber for use in third world hot spots was unfairly moving in on traditional Navy missions. Two months later. Maj. Roderick w. Coward or. Of the Marine corps reserves urged the Navy to make up with the air Force and train its fire on bigger targets. The Navy and the air Force should be teamed together versus the army he wrote. We must ask How we As a nation in a time of increasing Federal debt can justify the existence of a Large standing  in Cheney s inner Sanctum of decision making officials said the gloves have just begun to come off Thelong knives environment. Is  said a senior defense official who asked not to be named. He said that for each of the services Hope still Springs eternal that maybe they re going to be the one that benefits in the debate ab9ut which service has the weapons tactics and training that Best support american military objectives. The debate will dominate a series of High level meet Ings that Cheney has initiated to discuss Broad strategy questions defense officials said. Attended by Cheney senior policy advisers the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the chiefs and secretaries of each of the services the meetings arc designed to produce a Strate Gic underpinning Lor the Force reductions that lie ahead. You always have an outbreak of inter Scricc rivalry when peace Breaks out said Lawrence Korb a you always have an outbreak of interservice rivalry when peace Breaks  Lawrence Korb senior Pentagon official in the Reagan administration. In the Wake of world War ii. It was so vicious that Secretary of defense James a Forrestal had to bring the services Down to Palm Springs Calif to impose a truce in 1948. Senior Navy officers struggling to protect their Fleet of aircraft carriers from further cuts have already begun to take aim at the air Force s claims that the b-2 stealth bomber will provide the United states with unique capability to mount non nuclear strikes on Dis Tant targets from bases on . Soil. If the Navy plays it right it could be the admirals revolt in reverse said Norman Friedman who wrote the article in proceedings the . Naval Institute monthly that brought the Navy s complaints about the air Force s b-2 to the surface. The air Force has caught on that it might be out of missions Friedman said. During Caspar Weinberg or s tenure they ran a lot of Black classified programs the air Force wants to prefect the Al 17 fighter program which is starting to feel the Edge of the budget a. And were Able to keep their Bills secret. As a result they were Able to get away with a lot of  Wein Berger was Reagan s first Secretary of defense. The Navy s Case against the b-2 bomber has been made easier by the program s extraordinary $68 billion Price tag. That has Given its officers an opening to Tell lawmakers and reporters that aircraft carriers have Al ways provided third world striking Power without the expense of overseas bases. At the same time unlike bombers they can offer a deterrent presence in peacetime As Well. Navy officials say. It is an argument that the air Force has not taken lying Down. The air Force has attributes looking at a Mulipo Lar world that the Navy does  one air Force analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said in a recent interview. The air Force can operate less expensively than the Navy can get anywhere faster than anyone. Its weapons have tremendous capability to get somewhere quickly and apply precise Force with mini mum collateral  the Al 17 stealth fighter bomber is one of the weapons the air Force would like to protect. In a move that Many critics regarded As a competitive ploy the air Force eagerly offered a Large number of f-117s for use in the Panama invasion. Cheney rejected the air Force s proposal for a larger Force but approved sending two of the aircraft to drop two precision guided bombs As a diversionary lactic in a Field outside a training Headquarters of Noriega  the Panama invasion the air Force had focused its competitive Zeal on its stealth bomber. After touting the b-2 As being designed for the sensitive task of destroying soviet Mobile missiles with nuclear War Heads air Force officials last year played up the plane s potential for conducting conventional War on third world bad boys such As Libya. The air Force has these two huge programs the c-17 transport plane and the b-2 bomber and the realize that at least one if not both arc  one senior Navy official said. So they figure they la go out and try to sink a few carriers to help pay for  air Force Gen. Robert t. Horres the retiring vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff raised the stakes of the Competition Between air Force bombers and Navy carriers. Speaking to arms control experts in Washington recently Horres declared that the United states would jeopardize its status As a superpower if it scuttled plans to modernize the manned penetrating bomber Force by building the b-2 bomber. The Navy and the air Force preoccupied with Tak ing shots at each other have largely ignored Coward s advice to train their fire on the army instead. But the Marine corps a piece of the Navy has begun trying to take slices out of what the army regards As its historical , Many analysis believe that the new out break of interservice rivalry May simmer rather than explode. At this Early stage it appears the budget a will fall most heavily on the most pliant service the army and barely Nick the fiercely self protective Navy and its expeditionary Arm the Marine corps. There would be a virulent spat if the Navy were to Lake a big Cut to its disadvantage while the air Force did not said Carl builder a Rand corp. Analyst who specializes in relations Between the military services. The outcome might be just As Nasty if the air Force became the leading victim. The army and Navy have been around for years and they know How this game is played said Korb now a scholar at the Brookings institution. The air Force is the wild card in this whole thing. What you might Sec now is a revolt of the air Force