
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 5, 1991                   TAG: 9102050558
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DEFENSE CUTS COULD HURT VA.

With the world's largest naval base, a huge shipbuilder, Air Force bases and thousands of military employees, Virginia has a lot to lose whenever the Pentagon wields its budget ax.

Although the Defense Department's proposed budget for the 1992 fiscal year calls for cuts in some areas of defense-heavy Virginia, no major slashing has taken place so far.

U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said the state will suffer the same percentage cuts as other states.

Warner, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the state "still remains dominant in terms of its defense spending" under the budget proposal.

With 10.8 percent of its economic output in defense, Virginia ranked first among the 50 states in 1989, according to a study by Washington Analysis Corp.

The Pentagon's proposed budget, totaling $278.3 billion, would deactivate the Norfolk-based battleship Wisconsin, end a program to rebuild the F-14D Tomcat jet fighter in Norfolk and continue the elimination of Navy jobs.

But along with cuts come increases in some areas. The proposed budget would increase funding for the Strategic Defense Initiative, which involves some Northern Virginia companies, from $2.9 billion to $4.6 billion.

The budget also calls for the purchase of one SSN-21 Seawolf submarine at $2.4 billion. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., the state's largest private employer, is competing with the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, based in Groton, Conn., to build the Seawolf.

Newport News Shipbuilding has a backlog of more than $8 billion in Navy construction contracts for three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and 11 Los Angeles-class submarines.

The Pentagon also plans to spend $247 million for military construction in Virginia.

One concern is a further reduction of jobs in the armed services. The Pentagon plans to cut active-duty military personnel to 1.8 million in fiscal 1993 and 1.65 million in fiscal 1995 from the current level of more than 2 million.

For the Navy, active duty personnel would be reduced from more than 600,000 last year to 551,000 in fiscal 1992 and 510,000 in fiscal 1995.

It is not yet known how many Virginia-based ships would be affected if Congress approves reducing the size of the Navy from 545 ships in the past fiscal year to 451 in fiscal 1995.

by CNB