The National Defense Authorization Act, as agreed upon by both House and Senate armed service committees, would increase the Army’s combat vehicle procurement account by $400 million over the president’s fiscal year 2016 budget request.
The biggest winner was the Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, which got a $314 million boost in funding for lethality upgrades from an original request of $74 million. The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) was fully funded as requested.
Photo: U.S. Army
In tracked vehicles, the NDAA would provide a $72 million increase for additional M88A2 Hercules recover vehicles and an additional $40 million increase to the $407 million program increase for M1 Abrams tanks.
Army aviation programs also would receive a significant funding increase under the current iteration of the bill. It fully funds AH-64 Apache helicopter Block 3A remanufacturing at $1.16 billion and adds $26 million in common missiles warning system survivability enhancements for the aircraft from $78 million to $104 million.
The MQ-1 Predator drone program also received a $17 million increase for upgrading the aircraft to the extended range version.
Negotiations settled on limiting transfers of Apaches from the Army National Guard to active- component units until June 30. Both chambers’ versions on the bill capped the transfers at the 48 already authorized in fiscal year 2015 until after the Feb. 1 publication of the report being authored by the National Commission on the Future of the Army.
The NDAA also would order Chief of the National Guard Bureau issue guidance regarding the fielding of upgraded UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to the Army National Guard. The guidance must prioritize units with UH-60s that have the most flight hours and the highest annual usage rates. It also calls for a report on what would be necessary to replace all the National Guard’s UH-60A Black Hawks with UH-60L, M, and V models by fiscal year 2021.
Congress also wants a report outlining plans to replace the A/MH-6 mission enhanced little bird aircraft “to meet the rotary wing, light-attack, and reconnaissance requirements of Special Operations Command.”
The report should include an updated schedule for upgrades to the A/M-H6 Block 3 configuration showing operational life expectations and anticipated service life extension efforts, the NDAA states. Congress also wants to have a detailed description of SOCOM’s rotary wing requirements and platforms and whether platforms common to other services will suffice in the future and whether a commercially available platform could meet those requirements.
The 2016 NDAA funds the Army at an endstrength level of 475,000 active duty personnel. The Army National Guard would be funded at 342,000 soldiers and the Army Reserve at 198,000.
In what could not be confirmed as a program cancellation, the bill completely defunds the Army’s meager $5.4 million request to continue its search for a replacement for the Berretta M9 handgun because of schedule delays.