In a suspiciously low-key media briefing the HCS have confirmed they will face a 10% cut in budget next year followed by 5 years of zero growth in the defence budget. "Every department is having to make this sacrifice in order to help the Clone Star Empire's economy rebalance and regenerate. It will be tough but we will play our role in ensuring the future security of the empire." a HCS spokesclone said.
Details of how the HCS will apply the cut will be outlined by each of the 4 services in turn over the next few weeks. A separate "strategic defence" fund has been created with a one-off 3.1 billion zark investment which will help matters and will help ensure projects like CSM are largely unaffected.
