Land Warfare

US Army delivers $185.5 billion request for FY24, maintains weapon development portfolio

on March 13, 2023 at 12:40 PM
army budget 1

A US Army CH-47F Chinook assigned to 3rd Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division delivers relief supplies to Turkish authorities on Feb. 17, 2023. (US Army/Spc. William Thompson)

WASHINGTON — Senior Army leaders say their relatively flat budget request of $185.5 billion in discretionary spending for next year will maintain an active-duty force of 452,000 soldiers, keep new weapon development programs on track and fund a push towards the Indo-Pacific region.

That plan is part of the White House’s $886.4 billion national security spending roadmap for fiscal 2024, where $842 billion would be bound for Department of Defense coffers — a 3.2 percent increase over the FY23 enacted level. While that is only a request and lawmakers will spend the coming months realigning spending priorities, the Army’s portion includes $15.8 billion for research and development, $23.4 billion for weapon procurement, $69.8 for military personnel, $72.1 billion for operations and maintenance, $2.8 billion for military construction and $1.7 billion for its “other” account.

That grand total comes out to roughly $185.5 billion, just above this year’s enacted level of $185.2 billion — in real terms, roughly a 2.1 percent reduction based on the administration’s 2.4 percent GDP inflation figure.

For more FY24 budget coverage, click here.

“We’re very confident that [in] FY24 we’re able to maintain the investments that we need in order to deliver the modernization strategy that we’ve set forth,” Undersecretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo told reporters during a media roundtable on March 10. Although Army modernization plans are largely on track in the FY24 budget request, he conceded that in the outyears and beyond, a variety of factors may change that calculus, including shifting requirements or budget constraints as more programs move from the development stage into production.

Research, development, and acquisition accounts in FY24 “are very well funded,” acquisition head Douglas Bush added. “All the efforts are funded to stay on track. So, I think that by itself is a big deal and we are preserving decision space for the secretary, and the undersecretary over time to shape our modernization portfolio.”

As for the Army’s actual manpower, Camarillo said the service is expecting another tough recruiting year in 2024 and will keep the active-duty end strength at 452,000 soldiers, or roughly where he expects the number to be on Sept.30 when FY23 ends. The Army National Guard’s manpower will be set for 325,000 while the reserve component target is for nearly 174,800 soldiers.

Modernization Push

The services have not yet released their FY24 budget justification documents detailing investment plans for next year, but Camarillo and Bush previewed a few of the big-ticket items included in the request, and a few programs facing development challenges.  

When it comes to long-range precision fires, one of the service’s top priorities, the service wants to continue investing in several initiatives including $944 million for research and development and another $157 million procurement for the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon program; $380 million for research and development and another $170 million on procurement of the Mid-Range Capability” missile; and $273 million in research and development of future Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) increments and $384 million buying 110 PrSM Inc 1 missiles.

Up in the air, the service wants to continue investing in its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) initiative to replace the AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, and is requesting $458 million to keep it going. Down on the ground, the service wants to kickstart a Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light prototyping competition with plans to invest $142 million there next year. 

For the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program with Microsoft, the service is eyeing $77.5 million to continue development of a 1.2 version in FY 24 and has included $91.3 million for procurement if development proves fruitful.

However, Bush cautioned that those IVAS procurement dollars are dependent on development success and overcoming past problems that have plagued the program designed to militarize the HoloLens 2 heads-up display.

“We’re in development of version 1.2 [and] we will know a lot more this fall, once we’ve got prototypes,” Bush said. “I think at that point, we’ll be in a position to talk to Congress about what procurement potential there is for FY24 versus research and development, which is what’s currently funded.”

When it comes to soldier kit like IVAS, the Army also has plans to ramp up Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) production next year and is requesting $293 million for the weapons and $191 million for ammunition. If lawmakers approve those funds, the service plans to purchase 17,122 NGSW-Rifles, 1,419 NGSW-Automatic Rifles, 14,932 fire control systems and 21 million rounds of ammunition. 

While Bush said he is not canceling any new programs this year and noted that most of the Army’s weapon development programs remain largely on track, he said three are facing challenges and their timelines have slipped — the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA), the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) and Improved Turbine Engine Program

Shoring Up The Industrial Base 

At a larger level, the department as a whole is making a push to award multi-year munition procurement contracts, with a senior defense official telling reporters on March 10 that five are included in the request: Naval Strike Missile; RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6); AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile;  Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM); and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER).

Bush previously said the Army would include a couple of its munition programs in this request too, but the senior defense official said more work needs to be done before the Army and Lockheed Martin commit to multi-year buys of Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 missiles, and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).

“This classic problem we face with industry… the boards of these companies want to see what’s in the five-year plan, they want to see contracts,” the senior defense official explained in relation to Patriot and GMLRS. “So, we’re looking to see if we can’t get there on those two things, as well but that will be an addendum and addition to the budget. 

“Those things are absolutely not done and baked,” that official added.

The Army’s budget does include plans to initiate a Stinger replacement program next year, Bush confirmed.

Additionally, he noted that the Army’s FY24 budget includes “significant additional funding” spread over the next five years to “accelerate” the Army’s organic industrial base (OIB) strategy. While he did not provide specific details, the Director of Army Budget Major General Mark Bennett said for next year the service is requesting $726 million to funnel towards ammunition facilities and an $115 million towards weapons and combat vehicle production. 

“We’ve partnered that [OIB] approach… [and] that has informed our base budget approach in terms of other investments in the OIB that will similarly help us accelerate some of the plans that we had in place,” Camarillo added. 

In addition to weapon and platform plans for next year, Army leaders said they are continuing to follow administration guidance to pivot towards the Indo-Pacific region in case of a contingency with China. As part of this push, the Army’s request includes $1.4 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), fully funds Pacific Pathways exercises, and includes a $1.1 billion to invest in contested logistics.

Topics

, , ,

Exit mobile version