With the Clone Star Empire economy slowing, Oojok has decided to impose a three year freeze on funding increases across all government departments including the Clone Defence Forces. Therefore the defence budget will be frozen at it's current level until the mid-2120s. However, Oojok also wants Clone space ship building, which has been moribund for a long time, to ramp up.
He has therefore directed the Clone Army, Clone Air Force and Clone Navy to accept a five percent cut in it's funding next year. The extra money will go to the Clone Space Navy. On top of the frozen budget this will be tough for the other arms of the CDF which will have to find substantial savings. The Clone Air Force, for example, is likely to defer production of the K85QA COIN aircraft for a year along with other cuts and delays.
Oojok has suggested the CDF rationalise it's thousands of facilities and bases across the empire, selling surplus land. This has been a very successful policy of New Sparta, having raised over thirty billion zarks over the last ten years (though this income stream is now running low). The CDF has begun identifying suitable sites which could be merged or sold.
Oojok said it would not be without difficulty but these measures taken now should put the CSE economy on a much stronger footing later in this decade.
