A new Defense Department reprogramming request reveals the Pentagon has identified $3.8 billion in fiscal year 2020 equipment budgets to supply funding for the Trump administration’s border wall project.
The request, obtained by Defense Daily, shows that about $2.2 billion in FY ’20 appropriations funding and $1.6 billion in FY ’20 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding would be shifted to support new border wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Each of the affected programs are highlighted to be “congressional special interest items” in the document. The reprogramming request was first reported Thursday by Inside Defense.
A Pentagon spokesperson said in a Thursday statement that “The Department of Defense is committed to supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the southern border by constructing fences and roads and installing lighting to block drug smuggling corridors.”
“Consistent with the President’s April 4, 2018, direction to the Secretary of Defense, DoD used its statutory authority to provide support that aids in blocking drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States,” the statement said.
The Air Force would shift $532 million from programs where lawmakers had increased funding above the service’s original FY ’20 request, including four C-130J military transport aircraft meant for the Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard units. Lawmakers added a total of eight C-130Js to the FY ’20 defense bill last year, but the reprogramming request stated the funding is early to current programmatic need as the period of performance for the contract is not scheduled to begin until FY ‘21.
About $156 million worth of advance procurement dollars for the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program would also be transferred, with the justification that the funding was excess to need and based on a higher number of aircraft than will be requested in the FY ’21 budget. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the contractor for the F-35 program.
The Air Force would also lose $180 million for the OA-X light attack program, also deemed early to current programmatic need. The service has stated its intent to procure two to three aircraft each from a Sierra Nevada Corp./Embraer team and Textron Defense [TXT] this fiscal year.
Out of 12 General Atomic Aerospace, Inc.-built MQ-9 unmanned aerial systems that were congressionally added to the bill, the funding for eight of those drones, or $160 million would be shifted.
Affected Navy and Marine Corps aviation programs include the F-35B variant, which would lose two out of six appropriated aircraft and $223 million in funds, two fewer than the four appropriated MV-22 Ospreys and $155 million in funds, and one fewer than the nine appropriated P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft with $180 million in associated funds. All in all, the department’s aircraft procurement funds would make up $558 million of the reprogramming request.
About $911 million would come out of shipbuilding accounts, including $650 million for the LHA-9 America-class Amphibious Assault Ship in development by Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] and $261 million for the expeditionary fast transport ship. The LHA-9 funding was deemed early to current programmatic need, and EPF was deemed excess to programmatic need.
The Army could lose $201 million, including $100 million from Army National Guard Humvee modernization funds and $101 million for Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) funding. The Pentagon’s justification is the funds are available because they are excess to programmatic need.
A Feb. 13 letter from Defense Secretary Mark Esper to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf approves the movement of funds and notes that it will pay for 31 projects and about 177 miles of wall.
“The commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineering, is authorized to coordinate directly with DHS/CBP and immediately begin planning and executing up to $3.831 billion by undertaking construction of the projects identified,” the letter said, adding that more funding could be approved in the future, pending availability and other factors.
Rich Abott contributed to this report.