The Army is hoping that Congress will restore at least some of the cuts to aviation and other accounts it made in its fiscal year 2017 budget submission, as outlined in a $7.5 billion unfunded priorities list sent to lawmakers.
Lt. Gen. John Murray, deputy chief of staff of the Army, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces that buying back aircraft and force structure that was trimmed in fiscal 2017 would be the Army’s first move if given more funding.
The unfunded priorities, or “wish lists,” have become standard in recent years as officials from all services prepare spending plans within their allotted funding levels and then provide Congress with desired extras as a guide in hopes lawmakers decide to increase their allowances. Murray said the Army’s unfunded list was primarily based on backfilling the cuts it made to its own topline between the current fiscal year and fiscal 2017 but also corrects some of the hits taken since the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
Photo: Sikorsky
Topping the service’s wish list is nearly $800 million for aviation modernization, which was deeply cut to pay for near-term readiness needs in the fiscal 2017 budget submission. That would pay for five Boeing [BA] AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, 24 UH-60M Black Hawks and 17 Airbus UH-72 Light Utility Helicopters.
Another $315 million would go toward aircraft survivability and procurement of systems for 12 Lockheed Martin [LMT] UH-60M Black Hawks and five Boeing CH-47 Chinooks.
Murray’s second priority given extra funding is the same as the Army’s top concern: restoring readiness. The Army is seeking to increase home station training and expansion of training flying hours and ammunition, he said. To that end, the service listed the need for an additional $1.4 billion for training efforts and improvements to the combat training centers, purchasing training ammunition, expanded training exercises and support for those efforts.
The Army has also listed the need for $750 million in materiel to increase readiness, which will pay for 12 Q-53 radars, 16 M-88 Hercules heavy trucks, 133 Raytheon [RTN-Lockheed Martin Javelins anti-tank missiles, 32 Oshkosh [OSK] Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV), 36 Lockheed Martin Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) fire control units and General Dynamics [GD] M1 Abrams modifications.
An additional $425 million is needed to speed depot maintenance and purchase spare General Dynamics Stryker wheeled vehicles and General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagles, and improve cyber security for tactical software systems.
Many of the items on the wish list would fund implementation of some recommendations made by the National Commission on the Future of the Army (NCFA). The Army was unable to tailor its budget submission to reflect those recommendations, but would prioritize some of its findings given more funding Murray said.
“Number three would be starting to explore recommendations by the National Commission on the Future of the Army,” he said. “Some of those are fairly expensive if we go with those recommendations.”
The service asks for $305 million to retain an 11th combat aviation brigade rather than go down to 10, as the Army currently plans. The NCFA recommended permanently stationing an 11th CAB in South Korea. Another $62 million would pay for the National Guard to keep four aviation battalions and a total of 72 Apaches.
Other miscellaneous inclusions are increased funding for military construction, which also took a hit in the 2017 submission. The Army lists a need for $1.4 billion for installation sustainment and for up to 15 defunded construction projects.
The Army lists $585 million in unfunded research, development, science and technology needs. Finally, the Army would like to spend an additional $1 billion directly in support of combatant commands.