In the light of recent developments within the fields of military development and the expansion of the United States Armed Forces to 1,000,000 active men, President Kennedy has seen fit to introduce legislation to facilitate a total upgrade of US forces. The act shall facilitate the apprriation of an initial $3 Billion for the purchase of new arms and equipment to begin the total re-equipping of US Army and Air Force. The following equipment is to be introduced, or further bankrolled for introduction.

• Introduction of the M16 Assault Rifle as the Standard issue rifle for the US Army, to replace the M14 Battle Rifle (Secretary of Defence McNamara has pushed the introduction of the Rifle against resistance from the US Army.)

• Rolling out of the M60 Main Battle Tank to operate as the standard MBT for all US all US armoured formations not equipped with Lighter tanks.

• Introduction of the M107 Self Propelled Field Gun as the standard for US Self Propelled Artillery formations.

• Further rolling out of the F4 Phantom as the principle Air Superiority Fighter for the USAF.

• Replacement of old APC’s with the M113.

• Phasing out and storage of obsolete and outdated military equipment for resale to new nations.

The upgrades are to be carried out over 5 years in a staggered system, prioritising “hot zones” such as Vietnam, South Korea and Germany, followed by less important deployments in Japan, the rest of Western Europe and Latin America. Finally US Based Garrisons should be the last formations to receive the equipment. President Kennedy has also suggested that the costs may be higher than the already allocated appropriation, to which he has said he will pursue necessary increases in funding. The drastic increases in military funding has come under fire from Republicans, who decry Kennedy’s reckless increases in spending without raising revenues. With the 1962 midterms coming up, many have suggested that the Republicans may be set to capitalise on this issue.