The U.S. Army is considering diverting $31.6 billion over five years to invest in new types of combat vehicles and helicopters as it tries to realign its forces and weapons for possible conflicts with Russia and China, two persons familiar with the plans said.
As part of its plans for fiscal 2020 through 2024, the Army would cut almost $1.7 billion from BAE Systems Plc.’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the service’s core armored vehicle and a staple of infantry, according to the two persons, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t yet official. Other potential reductions: $1 billion from Boeing Co.’s CH-47 Chinook helicopter overhauls, and $1 billion from Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Army Tactical Missile System, they said.
Another BAE program—the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle—would face almost $480 million in cuts, under the Army’s plans. Oshkosh Corp.’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program would also take an $837 million hit under the Army’s proposal and Sikorsky’s UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters would be cut by $464 million, the two persons said.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense would still have to approve the plans before the Pentagon makes its official fiscal 2020 budget request in February.
SHIFTING STRATEGY
The Army’s plans seek to align its arsenal with the new National Defense Strategy, which shifts possible conflicts with China and Russia to center stage instead of the type of operations fought against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Army would invest the money saved by cutting some of its banner programs into a next-generation combat vehicle; future vertical lift, long-range artillery, and strike capabilities; a stronger communications network; and air and missile defense.
The Army is considering an increase of $7.5 billion for research and development over the five years, including the newly established Futures Command in Austin, Texas. The Future Vertical Lift program would get $2.36 billion for research and development while the next generation combat vehicle would receive $1.2 billion.
The combat vehicle would also receive about $3.8 billion for procurement over the time period. General Dynamics Corp.‘s Abrams tank and the Stryker combat vehicle would get $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively, for upgrades.
The plans to cut $1.68 billion from the Bradley A4 Fighting Vehicle, the newest and improved version, may come as a surprise after the Army this summer said it struck a deal for more than 400 of the vehicles. Work on the Bradley is done primarily in York, Pennsylvania. Separately, the Army is working on a new A5 version of the Bradley vehicle, but that wasn’t reflected in the plans detailed by the two people.
“BAE Systems looks forward to executing the $348 million contract it received from the U.S. Army in June to produce the newest Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Bradley A4 ECP (Mobility),” BAE spokeswoman Kelly Golden said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg Government. “We will continue to partner with the Army to understand and support their future Infantry fighting vehicle needs.”
Golden referred any questions about future Bradley plans to the Army. The Army did not respond to a request for comment.
LOOMING BUDGET CAPS
The Army’s overhaul of its weapons systems comes at a time of budget pressure. The Defense Department is subject to spending caps for fiscal 2020 and 2021.
For example, national defense spending would be capped at $576 billion in fiscal 2020, compared with $716 billion for fiscal 2019.
In order to boost defense spending for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, Congress and the White House would have to strike a deal to increase the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act. A new budget deal may not be in place until the spring of 2020, according to Todd Harrison, a budget expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Absent a deal between Congress and the White House to increase the spending caps, the Pentagon’s budget would be significantly squeezed, throwing plans to fulfill the National Defense Strategy into disarray.
