The Army’s fiscal year 2014 base budget request of $129.7 billion is down $4.9 billion over the land force’s request for FY ’13, with the network continuing to be the top priority.
There is no Overseas Contingency Operation request submitted with the FY ’14 budget request. It will be submitted later, Army officials said.
Service budget documents say the FY ’14 budget request “represents the minimum funding level necessary to train, sustain, and equip our Army today while preparing it for tomorrow.”
The warning from budget documents is that impacts from FY ’13 flow into FY ’14 from the budget battling and the sequestration, and mean one should “anticipate a less ready posture in FY 2014 than assumed in the FY 2014 budget.”
For example, deferred reset and battle loss replacement increases requirements in 2014 and will take years to recover, and reduced operational tempo means an erosion of readiness.
The Army’s budget themes for FY ’14 are to take care of its people, maintain readiness, reset and modernize and transform the institutional Army. The service is adapting for the future, with a smaller force, aiming toward a future modernized force focused on the soldier and squad characterized by a network, mobility and lethality.
Army modernization, research, development and acquisition request is $1.7 billion, almost 7 percent less than last year, reflecting the acceptance of measured risk and the restricted budget environment (Defense Daily, Feb. 14, 2012).
The research, development and acquisition (RDA)’s “foremost investment priority:” is the network, “because it serves as the critical link to recognize our vision for technological advantage while enabling a smaller, more capable Army.”
The Army requests $1.8 billion to connect the force, $973 million for network procurement and continued development: $272 million in research, development, test and evaluation of the General Dynamics [GD] Warfighter Information Network–Tactical (WIN-T) Network procurement.
The service said the request moves WIN-T to become the “cornerstone tactical communications system” and provides “a single integrating framework for the Army’s battlefield networks.”
The network is the critical link for a smaller force, and to link it to higher echelons, the joint force and allies. In that vein, $193.7 million is requested for two Network Integration Exercises.
The service also requests $383 million for the Joint Tactical Radio System, $103 million for the Joint Battle Command-Platform, and $267 million for the Distributed Common Ground System-Army.
The next RDA priorities are to invest in combat vehicles, light tactical vehicles and reconnaissance vehicles. The service plans to continue Ground Combat Vehicle and Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle Development, and continue fires modernization with the Paladin Integrated Management Program with a $260 million request.
Specifically, in RDT&E, the service is modernizing current fleets and developing new vehicles.
The service requests $592.2 million for the Ground Combat Vehicle in RDT&E, $84.2 million for the Army-Marine Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and $116.3 million for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV).
Modernization for Abrams Tank and Bradley has a request for $177.5 million, and another $50 million for Stryker vehicles.
Aviation modernization continues in manned, unmanned aircraft and enablers, although at “a slower pace,” requesting $631 million for RDT&E, and $612.5 million for air and missile defense programs.
The FY ’14 budget request shows military personnel costs reap 44 percent of the budget, operation and maintenance 35 percent, procurement, research, development, test and evaluation 18 percent and “other” at 3 percent.
Overall, Army budget trends have steadily dropped from a high of $252 billion executed in FY ’08, through the budget requests of FY ’13 and FY ’14.