Tuesday, March 31, 2024

AEI/Heritage Project for the Common Defense (Navy and USMC) Weekly Read Board

Navy:










USMC:
6.     Marine, Air Force Congress Wish Lists: About $7.6 Billion (full text below)



Marine, Air Force Congress Wish Lists: About $7.6 Billion

By Roxana Tiron and Tony Capaccio | March 23, 2024 05:04PM ET
(Updates with Air Force list starting in first paragraph.)
(Bloomberg) -- The Marine Corps has about $2.1 billion in needs that weren’t part of the fiscal 2016 Pentagon budget request, while the Air Force has a wish list of almost $5.5 billion, according to documents the services sent to lawmakers.
Marine Corps priorities include $1.05 billion for six more Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, $24.5 million for three Bell H-1 helicopters and $180 million for two Lockheed KC-130J aircraft.
For the Air Force, one of the costliest demands is $1.2 billion for 13 Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft as part of a recapitalization effort. The Air Force also would need another $160 million for eight more General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones.
The so-called unfunded requirements list has been requested by the leaders of the congressional committees overseeing defense. It gives the military services a second chance to pitch programs the Pentagon hasn’t had enough resources to fund completely. The other military services are also expected to send in their needs as Congress starts writing next year’s defense bills.
“These programs contained on the list would further enhance our combat readiness and effectiveness should additional funds above those already requested in the fiscal year 2016 president’s budget be made available,” General Joseph Dunford, Commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate defense panels.
The 2016 budget request already includes funding for nine F-35B Marine Corps models; 28 H-1 helicopters and two KC-130J aircraft.
The Pentagon’s official budget request also includes 29 MQ-9 Reaper drones and 27 C-130 transport aircraft, including versions for Special Operations and personnel recovery.
Other needs include $23.3 million airfield security improvements at Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and $11.7 million for an enlisted aircrew trainer facility at Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California.
The Air Force listed $132.3 million for the modification of engines for Boeing Co.’s B1-B bomber aircraft, $3 million for Lockheed F-16 fighter-jet cockpit modernization and $31 million for C-130J fuselage training.
Lawmakers have been wrestling with defense funding for fiscal 2016 in light of the 2011 Budget Control Act, Public Law 112-25, which caps national security spending at $523 billion.
Both the House and Senate budget blueprints to be considered this week include a proposed boost in war funding that isn’t subject to the caps. The bills would provide $96 billion for the overseas contingency operations fund, compared with the $58 billion President Barack Obama requested for that war fund.
To contact the reporters on this story: Roxana Tiron in Washington at[email protected]; Tony Capaccio in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katherine Rizzo at [email protected]Robin Meszoly, Bennett Roth

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