House subcommittee boosts spending for weapons
A House Armed Services subcommittee swiftly approved additional spending Wednesday for several high-profile weapons systems as part of the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill.
"This recommendation includes several initiatives to begin to address shortfalls in important requirements of the Department of Defense," said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., the chairman of the Projection Forces Subcommittee. "All of these programs are viewed as critical enablers in conducting operations of the type that we have just concluded in Iraq."
Bartlett said roughly 500 procurement and research programs included in the legislation (H.R. 1588) fall under his panel's jurisdiction. President Bush requested $28 billion for those programs in his fiscal 2004 budget. But the subcommittee's portion of the bill, which passed by voice vote, would authorize an additional $1.7 billion for those programs.
"I believe that [the subcommittee's legislation] funds the priorities of the members and unfunded priorities of the Department of Defense," Bartlett said.
The president requested $3.5 billion for the acquisition of 11 new Boeing C-17 aircraft in fiscal 2004, but the subcommittee's legislation calls for 12 C-17 aircraft, authorizing $182 million for the additional plane.
The president's budget backs Air Force cost-cutting plans to reduce its fleet of B-1 bombers from 92 to 60 by Oct. 1, but Bartlett said the subcommittee's legislation would authorize an additional $20 million to spare 23 bombers from retirement. This would let the Air Force keep a total of 83 B-1s in active service.
The legislation also includes an additional $376 million for the Navy's Tomahawk missiles, and an additional $178 million for the "Affordable Weapon," which Bartlett called "a relatively low-cost cruise missile."
Another provision would authorize a new $100 million research and development initiative for a "next generation, follow-on stealth, deep-strike bomber," according to Bartlett. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the full House Armed Services Committee, has advocated boosting the Air Force's "deep-strike" capability by buying a variant of the B-2 stealth bomber, which Northrop Grumman asserts it can build at a lower unit cost than its original B-2.
The bill also includes an electromagnetic gun initiative, a multiyear procurement authorization for Tomahawk missiles and Virginia Class submarines. It also would require the Center for Naval Analysis to launch several independent studies on potential future fleet architectures for the Navy.
Another provision would limit the retirement of C-5A aircraft until reliability and "re-engining" tests are completed and reported to Congress, according to Bartlett.
Bartlett said the legislation also would repeal a requirement that the Navy maintain a "120-day capability to surge the surface combatant force structure to 116 ships if the number of surface combatants is below 116."
"However, our provision retains the requirement in current law for the secretary of the Navy to notify Congress 90 days prior to any surface combatant ship decommissioning, when such decommissioning results in a total surface combatant force structure below 116 ships," Bartlett added.
Before approving the bill, the subcommittee adopted an amendment by Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., to transfer up to $200 million of the Tomahawk funds authorized in the bill to the LPD-17 class of amphibious assault ships, if the war supplemental appropriations package providing additional Tomahawk funds is approved.
The panel agreed, by unanimous consent, to adopt what Bartlett called the "spirit" of Taylor's amendment. Bartlett said he had some concerns about the wording of that amendment, but he said he would work with Taylor to address those concerns before the full committee takes up the bill.