The Senate Thursday morning passed an amendment to the 2016 defense authorization bill that adds $371 million for Stryker armored vehicle lethality upgrades.
In a 61-34 vote, lawmakers agreed to authorize funding to replace the 50 caliber machine guns on vehicles with 30mm cannons. The amendment, offered by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), sets aside $314 million for procurement and $57 million for research, development, test and evaluation. That sum would be offset by anticipated foreign currency gains.
The Army in 2013 moved its armored units out of Europe, including its heavy Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany— the closest unit to Eastern Europe—is equipped with the Stryker, which does not have the same level of firepower.
Photo: U.S. Army
But unless those Strykers are modified with a more powerful weapon, the U.S. military cannot credibly say that it can address current challenges in Eastern Europe, especially Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, Portman said. The service originally planned to begin upgrading Strykers with 30mm cannons in 2020, but issued an operational needs statement due to growing tensions in the region.
“The Army has asked for this. The Army wants this. They’re pleading for it because the soldiers who are there now say that they can’t be able to perform their mission without this enhanced capability,” he said.
The boost to Stryker funding is good news for Portman’s home state of Ohio, which is one of the states that produces the General Dynamics [GD] vehicle.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was concerned about authorizing money for a program that had not been vetted by the committee.
“We’re in a very tough budget situation, and we have to look very closely at every request,” he said. “Is this the most important program that we can invest $371 million at this moment for the benefit of the Army?”
Beginning procurement of the weapon would likely launch a multi-year program requiring further purchases as well as maintenance and logistics support, he said. If the need to upgrade Strykers becomes dire in fiscal year 2016, the service can request to transfer funding from another program to buy the 30mm cannons.
Furthermore, the funding that would be used to offset the upgrades is not set in stone, Reed said. The anticipated foreign currency gains included in the budget are only an estimate based on the current strength of the dollar, but that could change over the year.
“We’ve been careful not to put too much weight on this account,” he said. “It might turn out to evaporate, these supposed savings.”
Portman countered that the latest Government Accountability Office pegs the estimated currency savings as over $2 billion, higher than its initial projection.
The amendment would bring the Senate in line with the House Appropriations Bill, which set aside $314 million for lethality upgrade procurement. SASC in its original bill recommended $297 million for development and testing for Stryker lethality upgrades, $40 million above the president’s budget request.