That is because one of the most fundamental areas of mismanagement during Donald Rumsfeld's disastrous six-year term as secretary of defense was the neglecting to renew "meat and potato" conventional weapons systems and skimping disastrously on maintenance, spare parts and replacement budgets for them.

As a result, the U.S. armed forces, especially the U.S. Air Force, find themselves operating equipment that is decades old and, in some cases, aircraft that have been flying since the 1950s.

The U.S. Air National Guard's fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles that defends the airspace of the United States was grounded for months earlier this year because of metal fatigue problems. It is natural to expect such problems to be widespread in Mach-2 supersonic combat aircraft that have been operating for at least a quarter-century and, in some cases, for more than 30 years. But recent Congresses -- Republican-controlled ones even much more, in fact, than Democratic ones -- seemed to imagine these aircraft could go on flying forever.

The new SecDef also will have to rule soon on whether to push ahead with buying the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.-Northrop Grumman KC-45A -- adapted from the Airbus A-330 -- or the Boeing KC-767 as the Air Force's next air tanker. In previous columns, we have argued the case for buying Boeing rather than EADS-Northrop Grumman, as Boeing has far vaster and superior experience in building military air tankers and keeping them flying in superb condition for decades after their anticipated expiration date. But either way, a decision cannot be long deferred.

By contrast, there is an excellent case for buying European in the case of small electric-diesel drive submarines. The U.S. Navy urgently needs as many of these as possible, but because of its own insistence, not a single U.S. shipbuilder any longer has the capability to build such submarines. Germany and France -- both strong U.S. allies -- build excellent diesel electric subs -- the French Scorpenes, which have been sold to India, and the German Dolphins, which carry Israel's survivable second-strike cruise-missile nuclear deterrent.

Trans-Atlantic defense relations would be greatly strengthened if the next SecDef and secretary of the Navy filled this crucial gap in the Navy's needs and signaled a genuine willingness to cooperate with major European defense contractors in an area where the U.S. defense sector no longer has the capability to quickly and cost-effectively fulfill the need.

It is also time to push ahead with replacing the slow and largely obsolete subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile, with its maximum speed of around 650 mph. Russia and even India -- with Russian help -- are now producing formidable cruise missiles and related anti-ship surface-skimming missiles that fly at Mach 2.8 -- around 1,900 mph and three times faster than the old Tomahawk. This is another decision to push ahead with an ambitious next-generation defense program that should not be deferred any longer.

The next secretary of defense will have to cut spending on a lot more programs than he will initiate. But he will need to know where to sensibly invest in the future as well.

Related Links
The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com
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