June 3, 2019 | International, Land
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is freeing up another $10 billion to apply to its top priorities in its next five-year budget plan, according to the service's undersecretary.
“We are about to slap the table on the [program objective memorandum] here by no later than the middle of June,” Ryan McCarthy told a group of reporters during a May 29 media roundtable in his office.
As part of a rigorous review of programs and spending, the Army set out to find $10 billion within the budget that could be reallocated toward priorities in its fiscal 2021-2025 program objective memorandum.
The money shook out through another round of what the Army informally calls “night court,” a review process that freed up $30 billion in the last budget cycle to get ambitious modernization programs off the ground.
The night court process was inspired by similar reviews conducted under Robert Gates when he was defense secretary. Rather than make $182 billion worth of decisions in a few hours, the process is meant to establish a deliberate route to applying funds against priorities, McCarthy said.
For example, if a program didn't contribute to a more lethal battlefield or to one of the Army's six modernization priorities, it was canceled or downsized.
The Army set up a new four-star command — Army Futures Command — last year to tackle the service's top six modernization priorities: long-range precision fires, the next-generation combat vehicle, future vertical lift, the network, air and missile defense, and soldier lethality.
The review was conducted with the Army chief, vice chief, secretary and undersecretary at the head of the table last summer. But this year, to establish a more sustainable model, leadership fell to the major four-star commands and civilian heads in charge of major offices like acquisition and manpower.
“Every dollar counts in this environment,” McCarthy said. “And so what we've done is we've realized that it's not a sustainable model to have the entire Army leadership hunkered down every summer, but should delegate to the appropriate echelon of authority.”
Only the most difficult decisions will be brought to the top four Army leaders, he added.
When it comes to finding another $10 billion across the five-year planning period to apply to priorities, McCarthy said, “we are in very good shape there.”
The Army is also working to shift spending so that 50 percent is applied to new programs and 50 percent to legacy systems in the FY24-FY25 time frame. In FY17, the Army was applying 80 percent to legacy programs and 20 percent to bringing on new capabilities.
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/05/31/army-freeing-up-another-10-billion-for-priorities/
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July 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON ― Slovakia has decided to purchase 14 new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters to replace its Russian made MiG-29 jets. The Slovakian Defence Ministry's announcement Wednesday means the F-16 has beat out the Saab Gripen. In a statement on the ministry's website, Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš said the U.S. jets were selected because they are “state-of-the-art modern machines,” and the ministry statement said the U.S. planes were cheaper according to an analysis done through 2040. However, the ministry did not put a final price tag on the F-16 purchase, but Reuters reported that the dollar figure could be €1.1 billion (U.S. $1.3 billion) for the 14 jets. “We are pleased Slovakia has selected the F-16 Block 70,” Lockheed spokesman John Losinger said. “This partnership will deliver new capabilities to the Slovak Armed Forces and strengthen Slovakia's strategic partnership with NATO and the U.S.” In April, the U.S. State Department OK'd the potential sale of 14 Block 70/72 F-16Vs for Slovakia, indicating the process for getting those planes on contract should be fairly smooth. Slovakia's choice of the U.S. jet over its Swedish counterpart is notable in a regional context, as two of its closest neighbors ― Hungary and the Czech Republic ― operate the Gripen. Poland, however, operates the F-16, as do a number of other NATO nations. Lockheed's sale of the F-16 to Slovakia is the second order since the company made the decision to move its production line from Fort Worth, Texas, to Greenville, South Carolina. The Slovakian sale, coupled with the Bahrain deal cemented last month, will help Lockheed keep production of the F-16 going while its biggest potential customer, India, figures out what it wants out of a future fighter. Lockheed has proposed moving the entire F-16 line to India in exchange for a large order, but India seems to be taking its time, having released a request for information to a handful of defense aviation companies in April. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/riat/2018/07/11/slovakia-selects-f-16-over-gripen-for-new-fighter/
April 23, 2024 | International, Land