Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ran into stiff congressional opposition Thursday to his plan to kill the Army’s controversial Crusader artillery system as he pleaded his case in a grueling, four-hour hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
President Bush has strongly endorsed terminating the $11billion program, preferring to spend the money on precision weapons and lighter, more futuristic artillery.
Rumsfeld recently quelled a rebellion within the Army’s high command, which fought behind the scenes to keep the Crusader. But he faces a tougher challenge in Congress, which traditionally is reluctant to give up the money and jobs that weapons programs bring to home-state defense industries.
The power to fund or eliminate weapons systems lies with congressional appropriators.
“If not now, when?” Rumsfeld asked the committee. “Is there nothing that we’re doing now that we can stop? … We simply have to care about the taxpayers’ dollars.”
The fate of the Crusader remains unclear. Committee member Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who also serves as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, declared himself undecided on the issue, though he congratulated Rumsfeld on making “a tough decision.”
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“I have to give you credit for your courage in canceling a weapons system,” Byrd said. “This isn’t something that’s done every 24 hours here.”
Plan to transform military
The issue is viewed as crucial to Rumsfeld’s and the administration’s long-term plans to reconfigure the armed services from a heavy-duty Cold War force to a lighter, more flexible military better able to deal with 21st Century conflicts characterized by the anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan.
Committee members from both parties questioned the wisdom of eliminating the Crusader because the Army has claimed it is three times as effective as the Paladin self-propelled gun, the weapon it would replace.
Lawmakers also complained about the abruptness of Rumsfeld’s decision last week to end the program without consulting Congress. The move came after he had called for at least six months of study on the project’s viability.
“I find it offensive,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a major supporter of the Crusader, which would be assembled in his state.
“You’re asking us to ratify your decision, and replace it [the Crusader] with what?” said Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), a Vietnam War veteran. “In my part of the world, they call that a pig in a poke.”
In his statement to the committee, Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army Chief of Staff, said he had complied with Rumsfeld’s decision but declined to say he fully agreed with it.
However, Rumsfeld did find some allies among committee members, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), a frequent critic of the Bush administration.
“I hope that you succeed here,” McCain said. “If you fail, it will be very difficult for you to make any other change or transformation” in the armed forces.
A matter of money
Rumsfeld conceded that the Crusader would be a superior artillery piece and one the U.S. ought to acquire if there were money enough to afford it.
“Tough choices are made at the margin,” he said, “most often between programs that are both desirable, both needed and both wanted. But, nonetheless, choices have to be made.”
He said the Pentagon lacks money for other things it needs, including more soldiers for the Army and more ships for the Navy.
Though the Crusader could fire more ammunition farther and faster than the Paladin, the money saved by canceling it could be used to upgrade the Paladin as an interim measure while developing more precision munitions and speeding development of the lighter, more versatile Future Combat System, Rumsfeld said.
As in Afghanistan, U.S. ground troops also could be supported by a variety of other weapons, Rumsfeld said, including cruise missiles, fighter-bombers, B-52 bombers, Apache helicopters and airborne artillery AC-130 gunships.
Because the Crusader is so heavy and unwieldy–close to 90 tons when fully loaded with armor, fuel and ammunition–Rumsfeld said it would take half the Air Force’s C-17 jumbo jet cargo fleet just to transport a single Crusader battalion of 18 vehicles to a conflict.
About $2 billion already has been spent on the Crusader project, leaving $9 billion for the Army to use for other artillery and ground support systems if the program is canceled.