WASHINGTON – A congressional threat to slash another 25 percent from next year’s budget for a key military modernization program would jeopardize the program, an Army official said Tuesday.
Boeing Co. and SAIC Inc., the lead contractors on a multiyear, multibillion-dollar contract to modernize U.S. ground forces, are hoping the Army’s protest will convince U.S. lawmakers to reconsider a House Armed Services committee vote last week, recommending that $857 million be cut next year from what the Army says is its most crucial program.
The money would be used instead to build a controversial replacement engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. General Electric Co. and Britain’s Rolls-Royce PLC are lead contractors on that deal.
Congress must approve any proposed cuts and some lawmakers have criticized the modernization program in the past for cost overruns and failing to meet deadlines although the Senate has voted favorably when funding requests for the program have been on the table.
In February, President Bush proposed a $3.4 billion reduction through fiscal 2012 – $680 million a year – to help rein in military spending.
If approved, the two cuts would leave $2.8 billion in next year’s budget to fund the program, 35 percent below original plans.
“If these cuts stand, it will have a material impact to Future Combat Systems. We will be doomed to spend the next 20 to 30 years with the existing combat platform that we have today,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes told reporters at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday.
The latest proposed cutback would cancel two parts of the FCS program, including manned ground vehicles and a type of unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance, Speakes said.
Systems engineering would also be targeted, which would set back the Army’s efforts to coordinate various programs aimed at helping soldiers in Iraq, Speakes added.
Boeing, along with FCS partners Honeywell International Inc. and SAIC, have insisted that stable funding is critical to meeting program requirements.
“Repeated funding cuts directly impact the delivery of essential FCS capabilities to our nation’s soldiers,” said Mary McAdam, a spokeswoman for Boeing Co.
The costs of the war in Iraq have forced the military and policymakers into tough budget choices. FCS plans are being trimmed to pay for additional personnel and vehicles, such as the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected unit, needed on the ground in Baghdad.
While “we need to ensure that we get funding for MRAPs … we shouldn’t sacrifice the future of America’s Army,” Speakes said.
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