Keith Remadra, former chief advisor to the UNP Security Council on Clone affairs So the air force have announced their cuts, i believe the Space Navy will be next this week and the army will wait until next week. However the brunt of the cuts are being suffered by the navy and air force (though the army cuts will seem deep too, but the operative word will be "seem" but thats a topic for another day...)
Instead I thought it would be interesting to comment on why the HCS are having to make these cuts, the HCS is simply too damn big.
The air force cuts must be eye opening to casual observers, the HCSAF stands to lose over 600 fighters in real terms once aircraft are withdrawn and replacement programmes cut. The entire DDSAF currently has 124 jet fighters. However one should not compare the DDS and HCS air forces too much. The DDSAF (and army) are support arms to provide an expeditionary capability and provide local defence, the main military arm of the DDS is the fleet. The HCS on the other hand is a vast full-spectrum military that ranges from nuclear missiles to infantry, all in large numbers.
That is because the DDS and Clone Star Empire are very different organisations and thus require very different militaries. The DDS/UNP is a voluntary organisation. If a member world wishes to leave then they can. Obviously the DDS would not be pleased but they wouldn't stand in the way of the democratic process. By comparison the CSE is an imperial construct. If a member world wishes to leave then a legion would be landed outside of the capital to persuade them to change their minds.
Much of the HCS war potential is taken up with guarding the empire, the Space Navy from exterior threats but much of the other 3 arms concentrates on internal threats, keeping an empire of billions of subjects under control. This requires a vast armed forces : thousands of aircraft, thousands of tanks, millions of men, support networks, bases, communications, reconnaissance... and this does not come cheap.
In the past the CSE partially funded the HCS through the booty of conquered worlds, unfortunately the rich pickings have all gone now. Recent additions like Lornaca Melnig, Kontai and Unatel Gamma are not rich worlds and are probably a net loss to the CSE. Thus the HCS is probably going to have to get used to a smaller budget and shrink, whilst at the same time maintaining its amazing full-spectrum spread. So how can this be achieved?
I think it can be achieved through ever greater use of drones. The HCSAF was late to the UAS party but is steadily building a powerful fleet of surveillance, reconnaissance and attack drones. The HCS need to greatly improve their communications and data handling systems, which then will bring us to the paradox. In order to be able to truly shrink the HCS (these cuts are only tinkering) the Clones need to invest heavily in its networks and processing. Unfortunately these are areas the Clones have neglected in order to afford shiny pointy toys.
This addiction to massive fleets of warplanes and tanks is a legacy of the Clone Wars. Unless the Clones can break the addiction and properly rebuild as a much smaller, agile, info-rich force then they will continue to face the burden of maintaining and operating their vast fleets of toys.
