European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Stepped up Europe exodus to free funds for use in . By Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau the army s accelerated exodus from Europe to be completed two years earlier than planned will allow More Money to be spent on stateside family housing and property maintenance officials in Washington said wednesday. World events allow the army to leave Europe and reduce personnel Levels to 92,200 soldiers by the end of fiscal 1993 rather than fiscal 1995, a senior army official said. Quot it s prudent to get Down to 92,200 earlier Quot the official said at a briefing to discuss the army s $63.6 billion budget request for fiscal 1993. That represents a decrease of $6.5 billion compared with the current fiscal year budget and about $28.5 billion less than last year. When adjusted for inflation this is the seventh consecutive year of negative growth in the army a budget the official said. The army s manpower strength will decrease from 725,000 in fiscal 1991 to 640,700 by sept. 30, the end of fiscal 1992, and then to 598,900 by the end of fiscal 1993. At the end of the draw Down the army will have about 520,000 to 530,000 soldiers the lowest level since before the korean War. The official said the army is taking 72,000 service members out of Europe this fiscal year at a current rate of More than 1,000 per week. Another 37,000 soldiers Are due to leave in fiscal 1993, the official said. The army s plan was to reduce a personnel Levels in Europe from 213,000 in fiscal 1990 to the goal of 92,200 Over a period that runs through fiscal 1995. The Money saved will allow the army to fund other initiatives at a time when every aspect of the budget is feeling pinched and lawmakers Are looking to squeeze even More savings out of the defense budget As a whole. The official said the savings would come mostly from not having to spend Money on leases and family housing in Germany. Quot we re going to turn that around and reapply it to needed programs in the United states Quot he said. Among those programs Are repair and maintenance of stateside facilities Germany for example All Man Euver battalions remaining in Europe will have a shot at running the course there once a year beginning in fiscal 1993. The National training Center at fort Irwin calif., will mix Light battalions into its training scenarios allowing for 35 battalion task Force rotations into the Center each year. Light battalion training will also be enhanced at the joint readiness training Center at fort Chafee Ark. The army also plans to increase its us Europe Drasdo unplanned reductions by Pyl amps a 165,000 personnel Fly approximately 200,000 dependents a approximately 500 site reductions to data a 87,000 personnel ii Over 100,000 dependents a 463 Sites identified for closure our top priorities remain people and readiness. We want a fully funded operational Tempo for training with an emphasis on font Bat training centers that offer robust challenging training. Including family housing he said. He cited fort Leonard Wood mo., Home of the army Engineer Center and fort Bragg n.c., Headquarters for the 82nd airborne div As two posts that stand to Benefit from the savings from the accelerated draw Down in Europe. Like the other services the army s budget seeks most of its major cuts for fiscal 1993 in weapons and hardware rather than people reflecting the defense department s decision to hold the line on further personnel cuts. A your top priorities remain people and readiness Quot the official said. Quot we want a fully funded operational Tempo for training with an emphasis on combat training centers that offer robust challenging  at the Hohenfels training Center in of training simulators to include company sized Man Euver operations. In military construction the army a request is the smallest in years with a single unglamorous project requested for Europe a expansion of a . Military Landfill at Grafe Wohr Germany. In weaponry the army s biggest loss is the Comanche Light helicopter program which will become an example of the Pentagon s new weapon acquisition strategy research and development funding will continue and the army now plans to build three prototype aircraft the official said. But the system would not be produced in Quantity unless there was a justifiable need for it officials said. Research will focus mainly on the helicopters engine and whether it Cansas handle the weight of the aircraft s Longbow radar system and Armor enhancements. In other programs the army will begin receiving Advance procurement funds in fiscal 1993 to buy javelins a portable one Soldier Quot fire and forget Quot system designed to replace the aging dragon antitank weapon the army also will procure 2,543 hellfire and 9,440 Tow my anti tank missiles. The Effort to replace the uh-1 Fleet with uh-60 Blackhawk will continue As will the Fielding of More ch-47d Chinook transport and ah-64 Apache attack helicopters. The army plans to continue Fielding 144 of its Avenger Forward air defense systems. The Avenger is a stinger missile and 50-caliber machine gun Rig meant to be mounted on the High mobility multipurpose a wheeled vehicle or Hummer. The system is Pedestal mounted and comes with eight ready to fire missiles and the machine gun. The army plans no new procurement of m1a1 Abrams tanks or Bradley fighting vehicles in fiscal 1993. No new Patriot missiles will be purchased either since the army has already replenished its stocks after operation desert storm. In another move the army plans to place shoulder fired stinger missiles in Bradley fighting vehicles until further research and development can be done on other anti aircraft systems to fill the void left by the termination of the air defense and anti tank system known As  program dwindles to single sub by David Tarrant staff writer with the soviet Union s collapse the United states no longer needs to proceed with a new class of attack submarine according to the defense department s fiscal 1993 budget. So the vaunted sea Wolf program which was supposed to help overtake soviet counterparts in Quality will be scrapped after producing Only one submarine a saving $17.5 billion through 1997, according to budget figures. Quot we think it is increasingly unlikely that the soviets can Field More sophisticated submarine capability Quot defense Secretary Dick Cheney said at a packed Pentagon news conference wednesday. Navy officials who asked anonymity said the existing los Angeles class ssn-688 submarines would be sufficient in an Era of declining budgets and diminishing threats. The Only sea Wolf that is under construction it is about 20 percent completed will Likely be used for research and development purposes Navy officials said. It has already been dubbed the Quot Lone Wolf Quot after wednesday s announcement. Because of the decrease in threat the defense department believes it can afford to place More emphasis on research and development and to wait longer before bringing new programs into the production stage. Quot we re faced now with a different world situation in which we Are no longer being chased by the soviets or by the russians in the development of new technology Quot said Donald Atwood the Deputy Secretary of defense. Quot we have weapons which have proven themselves to be the finest in the world. And we Don t have to get into production on new ones just because we re chasing someone or they re chasing  like All services while the Navy is cutting Back on production it wants to maintain research and development capability. The Navy plans to research for example How to develop a lower Cost submarine design than the sea Wolf that will enable it to modernize while maintaining adequate Levels of submarine forces in the coming years Navy officials said. The sea Wolf is the latest in a series of big Navy programs that have been terminated. In the past two years Cheney has shelved the Trident submarine program and the Navy s advanced tactical fighter Quot i wish it were not necessary to make difficult choices,1 Cheney said. Quot it is not an enjoyable task. But the world has changed  Cheney said he is very concerned about losing the nation s Industrial base a the ability of private military contractors to survive and develop new programs in this Era of Sharp cutbacks. It is a problem especially with regard to building modern submarines he said. All was not grim however the Navy s $84,6 billion budget for fiscal 1993 contains Money for the Navy s Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers designed to face air surface and below water threats. The Navy s budget also Calls for it to proceed with the development of a new aircraft Carrier the cvn-76, which is to be the next nuclear powered Nimitz class aircraft Carrier. There s also More than $2 billion in the 1993 budget to proceed with producing More f/a-18 hornets which first entered the service in 1981. Training operations will not change much in the budget either. Navy steaming Days remain at 50vfe Days a Quarter for deployed fleets and 29 Days a Quarter for non deployed fleets. The Navy also will receive More funding for sea lift a More cargo ships tankers and resources for pre. Positioning military equipment around the world. Page 14 b the stars and stripes Friday january 31, 1992