WASHINGTON: Pentagon chief Leon Panetta warned Monday that if Congress fails to act to prevent automatic spending cuts, the defense budget would be slashed by nearly a quarter and the military's readiness would be jeopardized.
Panetta for the first time outlined in more detail the potential effect of the automatic cuts that will be triggered if a congressional "supercommittee" fails to agree a deal on reducing the country's deficit.
The Pentagon is already preparing for more than $450 billion in cuts over the next decade but political stalemate in Congress would mean roughly $600 billion in additional reductions.
In a letter to Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Panetta said the deeper cuts would require a 23 percent reduction across the military's budget, undermining shipbuilding and other construction, forcing the furlough of civilian employees and threatening the force's combat readiness.
Such a reduction "assumes unacceptable risk in future combat operations" and "threatens overall operational readiness," according to the letter.
The 23 percent cut would render ship and military construction projects "unexecutable -- you cannot buy three quarters of a building," it said.
Panetta said the reduction would have a drastic impact on weapons programs, driving up unit costs and "lead to reductions in quantity of one third or more."
The Pentagon also would have to look at drastic measures, including ending the F-35 fighter jet program, halting plans for a new long-range bomber, cutting the submarine fleet, terminating the European missile defense project and eliminating land-based intercontinental missiles in the country's "triad" of nuclear forces, according to the letter.
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