By Emelie Rutherford
The Pentagon sent a tardy $3 billion omnibus reprogramming request to Capitol Hill last Thursday, seeking overall to decrease Air Force and defense-wide accounts and bolster Army and Navy funding approved in recent years. It calls for reductions to Army vehicle programs and increases to anti-explosive systems used in theater.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England on July 11 signed the lengthy request, which seeks to reprogram $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2008, $399 million in FY ’07, and $17.4 million in FY ’06 monies, according to Pentagon documents provided by sources.
The request, under statute, was due to Congress by June 30. Yet its delivery was slowed because defense officials needed to first see what was in the final FY ’08 supplemental war-funding bill, which itself was delayed and not finalized until the end of June, Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka said.
Overall, the four-part reprogramming would shift an additional $53.9 million to the Army and $32.5 million to the Navy, while taking $83.7 million from defense-wide funds and $2.7 million from the Air Force, a two-page overview shows.
According to the 70-page request, the Pentagon’s proposed FY ’08 increases for Army procurement include: $72 million for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile system, $33 million for small unmanned aerial system (SUAS) equipment to help defuse improvised explosive devices (IEDs), $84 million for upgrades to the CREW/Duke IED jammer system used in theater, and $80.3 million for aspects of the Ground Standoff Mine Detection System used in Afghanistan.
Research and development increases sought for the Army include $60 million to support three instead of two contractors to build prototypes of the developmental Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), $64.2 million for tactical unmanned vehicle projects, and $11 million for early planning work on a Joint Future Tactical Lifter.
For the Navy, increases sought include $4.2 million for buying aviation support equipment and $6.3 million in research and development monies for helicopter development efforts–including service-life extension of existing presidential helicopters until the troubled VH-71 replacement aircraft becomes operational.
Air Force procurement increases that would result from the reprogramming include a $23.9 million boost to help replace current theater aircraft that relay communications data. The air service also would receive $32 million more in research and development funds for buying one C-27 cargo aircraft for U.S. Special Operations Command to modify for an AC-XX gunship prototype.
Army procurement decreases spelled out in the reprogramming request include $74.5 million less for the Humvee program, because of “uncertain requirements” for the next-generation Expanded Capacity Vehicle, a $84 million reduction for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, because of a contract delay; $116 million less for the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles, due to a slip in a contract award date; and a $10.7 million cut for the Heavy Expanded Mobile Tactical Truck, because of schedule slippage. The reprogramming also seeks to reduce Army procurement funds for the Tactical Unmanned Aerial System by $57 million.
The reprogramming seeks to take away $44 million in Air Force research and development funds for the troubled CSAR-X helicopter effort, which is delayed because of protests by industry competitors.
The money-shift proposal, notably, does not call for reducing the $113 million in research and development funds the Air Force received in FY ’08 for the contested aerial refueling tanker.