Cuts Continue as Faster Force Sought

year after chopping 18 weapons programs from its procurement budget, the Army has continued on its cutting course, axing or restructuring another 24 programs this year. "The news hasn't changed," says Claude Bolton, the Army's top acquisition executive, who put together the service's proposed $10.7 billion procurement budget for 2004.

Last year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the Army to scrap its $11 billion Crusader field artillery system. This year's budget proposal outlines a series of smaller reductions over the next six years that will add up to a total of $13.9 billion in savings. Among the programs being cut or restructured are: various versions of the Army's Tactical Missile System ($1.96 billion); the Multiple Launch Rocket System ($667 million); the Wide Area Munition program ($321 million); and the Stinger missile system ($195 million). "It's not like the Crusader; these are mostly small programs," says Bolton.

The Army avoided paying hefty contract termination fees-and minimized the impact on manufacturers-by canceling programs that were winding down anyway. In some cases, the service simply didn't exercise options to continue contracts, Bolton says. Many of the contractors who lost work are in the running to build new weapons.

The savings will be plowed into efforts already under way to make the Army a lighter, more lethal and rapidly deployable force by 2010. Those efforts will focus on upgrading a handful of key systems, such as Abrams tanks, that will allow the service to defeat existing threats. Then the Army will field an interim force of light mobile combat vehicles. Beginning in 2010, Army leaders plan to field a force that relies heavily on advanced systems, including the Future Combat System-a family of wheeled vehicles loaded with advanced technology-that will transform the service into a high-speed ground force.

More than half of the savings from restructuring and terminating programs will go toward developing the Future Combat System. Other top priorities include the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, the Joint Tactical Radio System and the Warfighter Information Network, a high-speed, high-volume communications network for all Army forces. In addition, upgraded versions of the Apache helicopter, Chinook cargo helicopter and the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles are slated to play key roles on the future battlefield.

Bolton says Operation Iraqi Freedom highlighted the increasing importance of precision munitions, satellites, sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles. He says the Army also wants to increase the $3.75 billion it now spends on research for future systems and technologies. Currently, the Army spends less than 2.5 percent of its total $91 billion budget on science and technology programs. Bolton wants the figure to be closer to 3 percent.

The Army's budget process over the next year will bear close watching. Later this year, the service will have a new chief of staff and secretary, both handpicked by Rumsfeld to speed up transformation efforts. Over the past two years, there has been widespread grumbling that the Pentagon has shortchanged the Army's budget. Bolton says the Army could always use more money, but says he doesn't think the Pentagon has singled out the service for budget cuts.