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WASHINGTON: U.S. Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton on Tuesday vowed to fight for stable funding of the $130 billion Future Combat Systems program led by Boeing Co. and Science Applications International Corp.
Bolton said the modernization program was meeting cost and major schedule targets, but less important deadlines were starting to slip due to congressional funding cuts.
Program officials on Monday said the huge Army project, which includes a variety of technologies and gear such as unattended ground sensors, was on track and about one percent below its cost targets. But Bolton said he is worried that continued cuts could lead to bigger delays over time, ultimately jeopardizing the program.
“We will continue that program. It is critical to the success of the Army,” Bolton told reporters at the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army. “We need a different way of treating successful programs.”
Bolton said he planned to meet with lawmakers to explain the need for the big modernization effort that is designed to automate more systems and free up soldiers for other jobs.
It was particularly important to keep funding stable since initial FCS technologies are due to be sent to soldiers beginning in fiscal year 2008.
Lawmakers cut the program again by $325 million in the fiscal 2007 appropriations act, while the authorizing committees are requiring even tougher reviews of the program.
Bolton and other Army officials continue to push for additional funding in fiscal 2008. They want continued funding for FCS and other modernization efforts, and to ensure that the Army is properly funded once the spate of emergency budgets for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end.
They rejected the Pentagon's initial plan to trim $30 billion from the Army's budget over the next five years, arguing that the Army is being asked to take on broader roles, including homeland defense.
The budget discussions are continuing, and Army officials say they expect to resolve the matter by the end of the year.
Lt. Gen. David Melcher, deputy chief of staff for budget, said the Army asked for $84 billion in supplemental funding in fiscal year 2006 ended Sept. 30, and its overall 2007 request would clearly be higher to reflect troop levels.
The Army got the lion's share of a $70 billion emergency spending package approved by Congress in September, but Melcher said it would request more early next year. The war funding request for fiscal 2008 would be stable at the 2007 level.
Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson, who heads the Army's office of program analysis and evaluation, said rising health care costs and recruitment costs had driven the average cost of 10,000 active duty soldiers up 70 percent from 2001 through 2008, with the cost of reserve duty soldiers up 100 percent.
In fiscal year 2006, the Army had to divert $2 billion from procurement accounts to pay its military personnel bills, and the same would likely happen in 2007, the officials said.
Such cuts did not affect the equipment sent to troops in combat, but it hampered training efforts for troops before they went to Iraq or Afghanistan, they said.
“We think it is still going to be a difficult year for the Army,” Melcher said.
