More cuts are likely in high-cost areas such as fighter jets, vehicles, information technology, procurement and travel.
In his detailed annual budget brief, defence spending guru Mark Thomson from the government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified possible extra savings of $787 million including $417 million in personnel and $370 million in supplier costs.
Mr Thomson noted that the number of generals and senior managers had expanded dramatically in recent years.
In World War One, 68 generals commanded 300,000 troops – now 171 star-ranked officers oversee just 52,000.
Supplier expenses for the services have grown up to 11 per cent a year despite tiny jumps in force numbers.
Insiders said the White Paper will include cuts to approved programs across all three services and will shelve or defer several major “wish list” projects, including the $16 billion Joint Strike Fighter program (trimmed from 100 aircraft to 75 or less, saving $4 billion) and unapproved projects such as the navy’s fourth $1.5 billion air warfare destroyer and new naval helicopters ($1 billion).
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February 8, 2009 at 9:28 pm