Panel approves $3.8 billion increase for military equipment and programs

The House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee voted unanimously Wednesday to boost funding for military equipment and programs under its purview by $3.8 billion, largely to pay for urgent priorities for ground troops, committee leaders said.

But the panel targeted certain high-profile procurement programs, including the Army's massive Future Combat Systems, for a total of $605 million in cuts approved during a brief markup of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill.

"With troops in combat, the Congress has a non-negotiable obligation to weigh in heavily on the side of immediate and near-term needs of the military, particularly the Army," Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee ranking member Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said. "In some cases, this means cutting funds from pie-in-the-sky programs that may work out down the road and funding things that we know work today."

In particular, the committee stripped $325 million from the $3.9 billion request for FCS, a $200 billion program panel members have long criticized for poor management and exponential cost increases.

But the cut in the Army budget was more than offset by the panel's addition of $318 million for Army National Guard equipment, and $276 million to upgrade the Army's fleet of Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Army had requested only half of the money needed for the Bradleys, and 25 percent of what it needed for the Abrams.

"Our mark reflects an objective of balancing the health and capability of the current force with the needs of future Army capability," said Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee Chairman Curt Weldon, R-Pa.

The panel also inserted strict legislative language requiring the Pentagon to make a "go-no go" decision on the FCS program by Sept. 30, 2008, said Weldon, who has publicly criticized the Army's handling of it core technological transformation program. The Army still has not sought an independent cost estimate for FCS and, according to lawmakers, has ignored congressionally required reports on the program's transportability, lethality and survivability issues.

"It's a continued effort by some in the Pentagon who think they can just ignore the Congress and we're not going to let that happen," Weldon said. He also questioned whether the Army could afford to pay for FCS, while repairing equipment worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan and transforming its brigades into more modular and flexible units.

In other action, the committee opted to cut $241 million from the Air Force's Joint Strike Fighter program amid concerns that the Defense Department wants to commit to buying the aircraft before completing any testing. The panel also trimmed $39 million from the $6 billion program to replace the Marine Corps helicopters used for presidential travel, known by their codename of Marine One, because of concern White House officials are pushing the procurement forward too quickly.

Lawmakers would not elaborate about their reason for the cut, although Abercrombie quipped: "These are political appointees and so therefore are subject to Mad Cow disease."

Lawmakers also agreed to overturn a Pentagon cost-cutting decision to cancel an alternate engine program for the Joint Strike Fighter, adding $408 million for the second engine. Pentagon leaders have said the move would save the program $1.8 billion over the next several years, but Weldon stressed Wednesday that competition among the engine contractors would ultimately drive down costs.

The Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jet emerged a winner, with the committee adding $1.4 billion to the Pentagon's $2 billion request to ensure full funding for the production of 20 jets in fiscal 2007.