Pirate Struggle Underscores Importance of Gates' Defense Budget

The extended pirate standoff that finally seems to have come to an end today with the freeing of Captain Phillips underscores the prudence of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ new defense budget. Gates plans to shut down many expensive projects like the F-22 and the presidential helicopter in favor of unmanned aircraft and other weapons more apt at fighting insurgency warfare.

In his press conference, Gates said his budget will “reshape the priorities of the American defense department.” He said, “Every defense dollar spent to over-insure against a remote or diminishing risk or in effect to run up the score in a capability where the US is already dominant, is a dollar not available to…improve capabilities in areas we are under-invested and potentially vulnerable” Therefore, Gates is preparing the US for both conventional warfare (in which the US is by far the leader) and insurgency warfare. As Politico points out, a foe like Iran would use both types of warfare.

The Somali pirate situation is another example of how guerilla type fighting is replacing conventional warfare. The US military needs to be more flexible--unmanned aerial vehicles and increased intelligence is a step in this direction. The Somali pirate situation is similar to when Iran sent small, quick warships to swarm a US navy squadron in the Strait of Hormuz in January 2008. The Iran speedboat and Somali pirate situation are reminiscent of the Battle of Salamis during the Greco-Persian Wars when a Greek fleet of small, nimble ships destroyed a far superior Persian fleet of larger ships. The effectiveness of such strategies underscore the need to develop a new kind of weapons.