The exterior of the US Capitol (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — In a show of rare bipartisan support, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill behind closed doors Thursday on a 24-1 vote, throwing their collective weight behind or against some closely watched Pentagon programs.
If those senators get their way, for instance, the Air Force will be able to retire 42 A-10 Warthogs, Navy leaders will be blocked from retiring three amphibious ships, and an emergency supplemental spending bill could be passed if needed, sending the Pentagon’s budget soaring billions higher, the staff announced today.
Like the House version of the bill passed earlier this week, the Senate’s supports a $886.3 billion national security topline for next year. Although the bill does not appear to be as divisive as the House’s, which saw a fiery debate on social issues, Senate staff members told reporters today it does include provisions to address some Republican lawmakers’ social concerns, like a mandate for a report on the legality of the department’s abortion policy.
Social issues aside, that draft version of the National Defense Authorization Act outlines the senators’ vision for Pentagon management next year that supports some administration plans and seeks to alter others.
Killing Close Air Support Planes, Saving Amphib Ships, Fixing Stocks
For example, in FY24 it allows the Air Force to reduce its A-10 aircraft fleet from 1,145 down to 1,112 but also prevents the Navy from retiring three amphibious ships and one Aegis cruiser “earlier than the expiration of their useful lives,” according to a summary of the bill.
The Senate panel also recommends funding for a $1.9 billion amphibious warship, not sought by the Biden administration, but deemed a top unfunded priority for the Marine Corps.
READ MORE: Senate authorizers poised to pressure Navy on amphib fleet, threaten financial pressure
When it comes to the Army, similar to the House version of the bill, senators want the service to pen an Army prepositioned stock (APS) “lessons learned” report based on operations in Europe and following several damning DoD inspector general reports this year about equipment readiness levels and shortfalls, related to APS-5 in Kuwait. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville told reporters today he is keenly interested in fixing the APS problem.
“We’ve got some issues with [some of] those systems, and we’ll take a look at what’s a normal operational readiness rate: 90 percent for many of our units, that is pretty good,” he told reporters. “But we want to make sure that every system we give is ready to go.”
If senators get there way, the service will also be tasked with better coordinating with the Navy on the development of its new Maneuver Support Vessel-Heavy watercraft program, and briefing lawmakers on plans to modernize Sikorsky’s UH-60 Black Hawks now that the service has selected Bell’s V-280 Valor for its multi-billion-dollar Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.
Space, Missile Defense And Guam
For the Space Force, the Senate bill seeks to codify the new service’s role in designing and tasking space-based ground and air moving target indicators to the combatant commanders, a move that seemingly takes the service’s side in its ongoing debate with the National Reconnaissance Office.
Senate lawmakers, like their House counterparts, also are taking measures to open competition for the next billion-dollar round of National Security Space Launch contacts.
And, for the Missile Defense Agency, the Senate committee is urging the agency to speed up development of its Glide Phased Interceptor, demanding a study looking at how to reach initial operational capability by 2030 rather than 2035 as currently planned.
Another missile defense provision in the bill calls for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment to become the principal DOD official responsible for the acquisition of a system for the missile defense of Guam.
In addition to the Guam provision, senators sprinkled several provisions throughout the legislation related to the Indo-Pacific region, including a call to establish the “Indo-Pacific Campaigning Initiative” to facilitate campaigning activities in the region: establishing a training, advising, and institutional capacity-building program for Taiwan’s military; calls for a plan to enhance security cooperation with Japan; and more.
“The United States faces a dangerous and growing set of national security challenges,” senators wrote in a summary of the bill. “Most urgently, the People’s Republic of China has emerged as America’s primary competitor, as the only nation with both the intent and the capability to mount a sustained challenge to the United States’ security and economic interests.”
Elsewhere the senators spilled ink over several tech-related provisions, including the development of a Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, operational experimentation testbed, a requirement for a regional cybersecurity strategy to support the operations for each combatant command, and the establishment of a cross-functional team to implement security enhancements for the nuclear command, control, and communications network.
Now that the Senate defense authorizers have passed their policy bill, it will head to the full Senate for a vote. Once passed, House and Senate conferees will hash out the differences between their two bills and each chamber will again have to approve the legislation.
Justin Katz, Theresa Hitchens, Michael Marrow and Jaspreet Gill contributed to this reporting.
