US Defence budget for FY 2001

US Defence budget for FY 2001

8 February 2000

US Secretary of Defence William S. Cohen has released details of President Clinton's Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 defence budget. The budget requests $291.1 billion in budget authority and $277.5 billion in outlays for the Department of Defence (DoD).

Last year President Clinton allocated to DoD an added $112 billion for FY 2000-2005. In the new budget $4.8 billion has been added, primarily for operations in Bosnia and Kosovo and for higher fuel costs. DoD budget authority real growth exceeds 1 percent in FY 2001.

The budget includes $60 billion for procurement in FY 2001l. Investments include both new systems like the F-22 fighter as well as upgrades to existing systems. It also includes the projected funding needed to deploy a limited national missile defence system by 2005, should the US President order such a deployment later this year.

Readiness needs are funded mostly in Operation and Maintenance (O&M) accounts, which total $109.3 billion in FY 2001. The request fully funds the Military Services' O&M budgets so that their operations, training, and maintenance goals can be met.

Modernisation of aviation forces includes DoD's largest acquisition programme: the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The aim is a family of aircraft, with variants configured to meet several sets of requirements. The JSF will replace the F-16 in the Air Force, F/A-18C in the Navy, and F/A-18C/D and AV-8B for the Marines.

The F-22 will replace the F-15C/D in the air superiority role and have substantial air-to-ground capability as well. DoD's F-22 acquisition strategy has been modified to reflect congressional action on the FY 2000 budget.

The Navy's F/A-18E/F will provide much greater survivability and payload over earlier F/A-18 models. Production of 42 F/A-18E/F aircraft is planned for FY 2001. For the longer term, the Navy plans to transition from F/A-18E/F procurement to the acquisition of JSF at a time based on the pace of JSF development.

FY 2001-2005 plans begin a major transformation of the Army in line with its future warfighting vision. The Army will combine ongoing digitisation with accelerated development of new technologies for propulsion, protection, firepower, and logistics. Near term, the budget for FY 2001-2005 includes $4.5 billion for selection and procurement of a Medium Armoured Vehicle (MAV) for redesigned combat units. Some of this funding comes from the termination or restructuring of programmes geared to tank-heavy warfare.

Marine Corps modernisation features the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle, and upgrades of utility and attack helicopters and AV-8B and F/A-18A aircraft.

Modernisation of naval forces includes procurement of the DDG-51 destroyer, LPD-17 amphibious transport dock ship, T-ADC(X) logistics support ship, and new attack submarine. The FY 2001 budget funds the tenth and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier (CVN-77) and supports development of the next generation carrier.

The FY 2001 budget advances capability of projecting military power to distant regions. Procurement of 120 C-17 aircraft will be completed by FY 2003, and further purchases are planned after that. The C-5 transport and KC-135 tanker will receive major avionics upgrades and other enhancements. FY 2001 Procurement funds two Air Force C-130J aircraft and two Marine Corps KC-130J tankers.

For FY 1999-2005, the FY 2001 budget includes about $3.6 billion in spending that addresses lessons learned from last year's Kosovo operations. The funding is primarily for munitions plus improved ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and electronic warfare capabilities. It includes funding for an additional squadron of EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft and accelerated acquisition of the Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The budget also includes other initiatives that are complementary to Kosovo-specific actions. Most notable are general enhancements for the EA-6B force, more communications upgrades, and continued development of follow-on cruise and stand-off missiles such as Tactical Tomahawk and Joint Air to Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM).

The budget includes $836 million (Procurement and RDT&E) to continue to improve protection of DoD forces and activities from terrorist or adversary use of chemical-biological agents. Improvements are being made in agent detection, warning, protection, and medical treatment.

The Information Assurance programme is improving DoD's ability to counter cyber threats and protect its information systems, a capability that will be increasingly critical to the US defence posture. FY 2001 funding (O&M, Procurement, and RDT&E) totals well over $1 billion. One significant enhancement is for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which will ensure that DoD information systems are open only to authorised users and that communications reach only intended recipients.

The FY 2001 budget continues the funding needed to deploy a National Missile Defence (NMD) system to defend against a limited ballistic missile attack. Later this year the US President will decide whether to deploy such a system based on four criteria: threat, cost, technical feasibility, and overall security implications including arms control. The budget for FY 2001-2005 includes sufficient NMD funding to achieve a 2005 initial capability if deployment is ordered. FY 2001-2005 NMD funding totals $10.4 billion, reflecting the addition of $2.3 billion since last year's request. The budget will allow DoD to upgrade early warning radar facilities, build a radar complex in Alaska, provide 100 ground based interceptors, and fund additional systems testing.

The budget continues to advance the goal of deploying systems that can protect forward-deployed US forces, as well as allies and friends. To defeat shorter-range missiles, key lower-tier programmes currently are the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Navy Area Defence systems. Key upper-tier programmes are the Theatre High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) and Navy Theatre Wide systems. To defeat theatre-range missiles during their boost phase, development of the Airborne Laser and Space-Based Laser is continuing

The post-Cold War transformation of America's defence posture will not be complete until excess military bases and facilities are cut. To that end the FY 2001 budget includes funding to implement two more rounds of base closure and realignment (BRAC) in 2003 and 2005. Once fully implemented these rounds are projected to save about $3 billion per year. Congressional approval of these new BRAC rounds is urgently needed in order to shift scarce defence dollars from excess infrastructure to genuine military requirements.

DSD