A key Army official warned Thursday that congressional efforts to require the service to carry more aircraft than necessary could hamper the service’s aircraft modernization efforts.
“The Army’s getting smaller and aviation is not immune to that,” Army Col. Walter Rugen, chief of aviation division G8, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in downtown Washington. “So if we’re forced to keep additional structure that’s not part of the program, or procure additional aircraft that is not part of the program, that’s impactful to our modernization.”
Photo: U.S. Army
The Army is in the midst of the Army Restructuring Initiative (ARI), which would move all 192 AH-64 Apaches from the Army National Guard to the active component to fulfill attack and reconnaissance roles. In exchange, the Guard would receive more UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The Army believes this could save $12 billion (Defense Daily, March 27).
Congress and the Army National Guard aren’t happy with this plan. Lawmakers inserted language into the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill requiring the United States comptroller general to submit a written briefing on its assessment of the ARI and of any proposals submitted by the National Guard bureau chief or the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office that could serve as an alternative to the Army’s ARI.
Rugen said even though Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is a priority, the aviation portfolio is a very “finite” portfolio, and if the service sees additional demands come into that portfolio, then “something’s going to give.”
“It’s a math problem,” Rugen said. “ARI allows us to modernize.”
Lawmakers said, in the bill, they are concerned with the planned reductions and realignments the Army has proposed for the service, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves to comply with sequestration. Concerns are particularly associated, the bill said, with proposed reductions in end strength for all components that will result in additional reductions in the number of regular Army and National Guard brigade combat teams. This also includes reductions and realignments of combat aircraft within and between the regular Army and the Army National Guard.
The White House would not say Thursday if President Barack Obama had signed the authorization bill into law.