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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303270058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON DEFENSE BUDGET IS NOT A DRAMATIC TRIM

President Clinton is proposing a $263.4 billion military budget for next year that preserves major weapons systems but slightly accelerates the Bush administration's post-Cold War cuts in spending.

Aside from a speedup in manpower reductions and a pay freeze - and some scaling back of the Strategic Defense Initiative - the Pentagon has embraced what amounts to a stand-pat spending plan for fiscal 1994.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the official Defense Department documents from congressional sources Friday.

"This is in many ways the first truly post-Cold War budget," Defense Secretary Les Aspin said in a statement accompanying the documents. "It cuts Cold War forces and begins to buy the new capabilities we need to meet the new dangers we face."

But the budget terminates no weapons programs and continues development of many of the futuristic systems proposed by Republican administrations. The fate of the latter will be decided in Aspin's broader review of defense needs.

That review, due by late summer, will outline a defense-spending plan through the rest of the decade.

In past years, the Pentagon has released its five-year plan along with details for the next year's budget. This time, the Pentagon documents said Clinton will cut $88 billion from defense from fiscal 1994 to fiscal 1997 but no other details were provided.

Among the budget specifics for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 are:

A cut in active Army divisions from 14 to 12.

A reduction in Navy battle force ships from 443 to 413.

Aircraft carriers reduced from 14 to 12 with the USS Forrestal and USS Saratoga targeted.

Air Force fighter wings, which have about 72 aircraft apiece, cut from 28 to 24.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced from 787 to 667 and bombers from 201 to 191.

The number of U.S. troops in Europe would be reduced to 133,700 by the end of the fiscal year - from 164,000 in fiscal 1993 and 304,000 in fiscal 1990.

Overall, the number of active duty personnel would be reduced from 1.7 million to 1.6 million with the Navy subjected to a cut of 45,000, the Army 35,000, the Air Force 19,000 and the Marine Corps 8,000.

The selected reserves would be reduced by 60,000 from 1.08 million to 1.02 million.

by CNB