The Key West Citizen

By C. YATES McDANIEL

WASHINGTON (AP)--The nation's armed services, which already have whacked some two billion dollars out of planned expenditures this fiscal year, now are planning for tougher times ahead.

The Army got on the economy bandwagon yesterday, announcing the deactivation of an additional division, the abolition of 18 anti-aircraft battalions, a 15,000-man reduction of its civilian payroll, and closing of 14 depots, plants and facilities.

It was the last of the services to spell out its moves to help bring total military expenditures within the 38 billion dollar ceiling ordered by the administration for the current fiscal year, which began July 1.

The services now have announced a 100,000-man reduction in the total authorized strength of nearly 2,800,000. Some 53,000 civilian jobs also have been eliminated, with possibly more cuts to come.

Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Wilson froze civilian hiring until a new civilian work force ceiling can be set. Before the first civilian cutbacks started several weeks ago, 1,160,914 were employed.

Wilson has set the services to work on plans to trim total military manpower down to about 2½ million. Wilson and his financial experts have sounded repeated warnings that virtually all military costs are rising steadily and will continue to go up, leaving manpower as the main source of future economies.

Reserve forces are the next manpower area likely to feel the economy ax. They already have been reduced to the 2,900,000 maximum authorized by Congress.

The Pentagon has said the concept of smaller, more mobile units for the regular forces will be applied to the reserves as rapidly as possible.

Aside from manpower cuts in both civilian and military ranks, the services have followed different paths toward economy.

The Air Force, despite reductions in its operating funds, means to maintain the 128 wings scheduled before the current saving campaign took a firm grip on military planning.

The Air Force will absorb most of its economies during the next 10 months by slowing the production rate of new aircraft. The Air Force also cut adrift such costly programs as the Navaho inter-continental guided missile and the F103 research fighter plane.

The Navaho project was ended after nearly 700 million dollars had been spent on it. The plane contract was canceled before a single model was ready to take the air but after 100 million dollars had been expended on preliminary work.

The Navy will achieve its greatest savings by moth-balling 79 vessels, ranging in size from small mine laying craft to the last two battleships in the active fleet.

But the Navy plans to continue operating all of its active carriers and the same number of combat planes that it had scheduled.

The Navy, like the Army, also is achieving some of its economies by shutting down or reducing the activities of 102 shore establishments around the country.

Like the Air Force, the Navy is slowing deliveries of some new
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ARMY PLANS
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planes and is delaying placing orders for some others.

All of the services are slowing the rate of progress payments, which the services make to companies while military hardware is being produced. This is expected to reduce the cash outlay by more than 170 million dollars.

The Marine Corps dropped 10,000 from its recent military strength of nearly 200,000, but the corps still has a built-in floor.

Congress has ordered the Marines to maintain three divisions and three air wings, although it did not stipulate the number of men in these units.

The latest division to be lopped from the Army's order of battle is the Second Infantry, now in Alaska at reduced strength. The Army said only that it will be replaced by a "streamlined force especially tailored to perform its mission."

Although the Army said it will maintain the two divisions now in Korea and the five now in Western Europe, it forecast cutbacks in some lesser units now overseas.