House panel cuts $867 million from future combat program
Reduction is equivalent to roughly 25 percent of the Pentagon's request for the program and is far larger than previous congressional cuts.
The House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously agreed to slice $867 million from the Army's top technology transformation program, despite concerns expressed by several members that doing so would devastate the service's modernization efforts.
The cut in the Future Combat Systems -- equivalent to roughly 25 percent of the Pentagon's request for the program and far larger than previous congressional budget cuts -- came during the panel's markup of its portion of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.
House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, a longtime FCS critic, said the cut will only affect systems not expected to be fielded for several years. He said it also would help the Army redirect money to more pressing needs. The Army's current struggle to maintain combat readiness "requires dramatic action to prevent further decay of the Army over the next two years," Abercrombie said.
But Air and Land Forces Subcommittee ranking member Jim Saxton, R-N.J., House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and other panel members raised concerns that a cut of such magnitude in the FCS budget would have an immediate detrimental affect on the program.
Saxton, who met Tuesday with Army officials, acknowledged that the heavily deployed Army "simply has too many bills to pay and not enough funding to cover it."
But he recommended further discussing the issue before the full committee marks up the bill next week. Army officials have tried to dissuade the congressional defense committees from slicing the FCS budget, warning that the $160 billion program forms the technological core of the service's efforts to become a more nimble and lethal fighting force.
Aside from the deep cut in the program, Abercrombie's mark -- which the panel ultimately approved by unanimous voice vote -- requires the Army secretary to conduct a large-scale, operationally realistic test of FCS's extensive communications and sensor network before it begins production of the system's manned ground vehicles.
The subcommittee gave the Air Force the green light to gradually retire some of its oldest C-5A Galaxy aircraft beginning in fiscal 2009. The chairman's mark recommends using fiscal 2008 supplemental war-related funding to buy 10 additional C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
The $2.4 billion add-on for the C-17 program, which has enjoyed strong congressional support over the years, would bring the Air Force's fleet to 200 Globemasters and halt an impending closure of Boeing's sprawling production lines.
The subcommittee also authorized $480 million to keep alive a second engine program for the Air Force and Navy Joint Strike Fighter. The military has sought to cancel the second engine to save costs on the $250 billion fighter program, but lawmakers have refused to do so, citing the economic and development benefits of competition.
On other aircraft programs, the subcommittee trimmed the Air Force's KC-X aerial refueling tanker program by $200 million, and cut $470 million from the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter. The panel also approved language that would restrict all funding on the Joint Cargo Aircraft until the Pentagon provides Congress with reports on intra-theater airlift requirements.
In addition, the subcommittee gave the Army the go-ahead to proceed with multiyear procurements of CH-47 Chinook helicopters and upgrades, as well as Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle upgrades.
To increase the purchase of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles by $4.1 billion, lawmakers agreed to tap supplemental funds for war-related procurement. And they added $500 million to National Guard accounts to make up for equipment shortfalls plaguing the state-run units.