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Cuts in defense and aerospace a leap down rabbit hole
First and foremost, investments in critical programs such as stealth fighter jets, spy satellites, and bunker-buster missiles that can destroy buried nuclear plants are critical to our nation’s security. Voices from both parties have said the “slash and burn approach” of sequestration would devastate our capabilities.
Further, experts from Secretary Panetta on down also warn that these cuts would also severely damage our industrial base, and could drive up unemployment by up to 1 percent. A study we commissioned found the same. And the International President of the Machinist’s Union, Tom Buffenbarger, says these cuts “will result in two indisputable outcomes – more unemployment and a country that is less secure.”
Defense and aerospace investments don’t just keep us safe – they provide the aerospace primacy so evident in the missions on Osama Bin Laden and Libya – but they spur perhaps more innovation than any other spending. The Internet, laser eye surgery, new advances in computers, and even new cancer vaccines all owe their success in large part to defense-related investments.
Our investment in these aerospace and other equipment programs represents only 25 percent of the defense budget, 5 percent of the federal budget and only 1.3 percent of our GDP – far below historic averages. These investments are not the cause of our federal debt nor, tautologically can they be the cure. The fact is that DOD is facing deep cuts of $487 billion over the next the ten years, which neither the Pentagon nor industry is trying to roll back.
In bad weather, a pilot can’t get from point A to B without a good navigation system. Similarly, in difficult economic times, we can’t make good decisions on how to protect our security, grow the economy and cut the debt unless we are using good data.
Blakey is the president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.
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