DOD Seeks Permission to Shift $3.6 Billion, Begin New Weapon Programs Immediately
July 14, 2009 -- The Pentagon is seeking permission from Congress to shift more than $3.6 billion from lower- to higher-priority programs, moves that -- if approved by all four defense committees -- could launch by September a number of new weapon system programs that commanders contend are urgently needed by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Robert Hale, the Defense Department comptroller, on July 8 submitted an omnibus reprogramming request that aims to provide a cash infusion during the final month of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, to a range of programs including high-priority intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts and new military defenses against a pandemic flu.
“This reprogramming action provides funding in support of higher-priority items, based on unforeseen military requirements, than those for which originally appropriated; and are determined to be necessary in the national interest,” states the request, signed by Hale. InsideDefense.com obtained a copy of the previously unreported 93-page reprogramming request.
The omnibus request is the result of a nearly four-month long assessment by the military departments and the Office of the Secretary of Defense of how the entire Defense Department is spending funds allocated for FY-09, with the goal of directing money in the final months of the fiscal year to accounts with the highest need.
Congress frowns on using reprogramming requests to launch new programs, which lawmakers prefer to fund through annual authorization and appropriations bills. Still, the Pentagon is seeking to begin a handful of new projects this summer with reprogrammed funds, a gambit that aims to win early authorization from lawmakers to ensure high-priority programs are not delayed in the event the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill is not enacted by Oct. 1.
The Pentagon is seeking permission to start a range of new programs.
The Army is seeking to shift $74.5 million to launch a two-phased Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative, an effort to field -- in as little as a year -- a satellite-guided precision mortar round, a capability fighting troops are requesting.
“An all-weather, rapidly responsive, precise, 120mm, GPS-guided mortar is essential to support widely dispersed combat outposts and operations at the lowest tactical echelons, which cannot be immediately supported by other fires,” states the reprogramming request.
The Air Force is seeking permission to shift $95.2 million into accounts that collectively would accelerate integration of a 30,000-pound conventional warhead -- the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) -- into the B-2 bomber, a capability that aims to destroy “hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments.”
“The warfighter has recently identified the need to expedite the MOP program that was scheduled to start in FY 2010,” the reprogramming request states.
A wide range of ISR programs are also slated to receive funding as part of the reprogramming request.
The Air Force's Project Liberty, which aims to outfit a fleet of C-12 aircraft with ISR sensors in high demand by commanders, would see an $85 million hike.
The service is also seeking to shift a relatively small amount -- $1.7 million -- to address a potentially major problem: the ability of the Taliban or al Qaeda to interfere with full-motion video provided to ground forces by Predator unmanned aircraft.
“Current unencrypted data links are vulnerable to enemy exploitation and disruption of imagery transfer, jeopardizing ongoing surveillance and combat actions,” states the reprogramming request.
The Pentagon is also looking to jump-start a new ISR program to develop a Long Endurance Multi-INT Hybrid Airship, seeking $5 million in seed money for a program funded in the FY-10 budget request that aims to provide operational forces with an aircraft that can remain aloft -- relaying full motion video and track ground targets -- for up to two weeks (DefenseAlert, April 27).
Further, the request includes a proposal to shift $19 million to Air Force accounts to “reimburse Lockheed Martin's bid and proposal costs as well as legal fees expended in the [Government Accountability Office] upheld protests for the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program contract award.”
In addition, the request seeks authority for U.S. Special Operations Command to take receipt of four Russian-built Mi-8 helicopters from an unnamed U.S. government agency, and then upgrade the rotorcraft to Air Force standards.
“The Mi-8’s are required to support the mission of assessing, training, advising, and assisting foreign aviation forces in airpower employment, sustainment, and force integration,” states the reprogramming action, which notes an April SOCOM cost analysis determined the inter-government transfer was “more beneficial” than leasing Mi-8 aircraft.
To support an “urgent U.S. SOCOM requirement to rapidly arm and field multi mission precision strike platforms,” the Pentagon is seeking $212.8 million to buy eight kits for the MC-130W Combat Spear, according to the request.
The Pentagon would also like to shift $102 million into its biological warfare defense applied research accounts to “accelerate activities addressing” H1N1 influenza -- a strain of which is the source of this year's swine flu pandemic -- including diagnostics, vaccine assessment and novel vaccine production, according to the request. -- Jason Sherman
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