By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on May 12, 2021 at 4:09 PM
Gen. Mike Murray
WASHINGTON: It’s crunch time for Army modernization, with almost two dozen high-priority programs scheduled to field tech to combat troops in the next four years. That means a major increase in costs – from science experiments to serial production – just as the budget is dropping, with the Army widely pegged as the big bill-payer.
Now, that fiscal crunch is not a foregone conclusion, emphasized the chief of Army Futures Command, Gen. John “Mike” Murray, at the annual McAleese defense conference. It “remains to be seen,” he said, whether the Army will “be the billpayer” and help fund the Navy, Air and Space Forces.
The nominee for Army Secretary also aims to end “friction” between civilian acquisition officials and Army Futures Command, she told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
By
Paul McLeary on May 13, 2021 at 2:25 PM
Marine Corps Gen. David Berger.
WASHINGTON: Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger pledged today he won’t ask for a budget increase for at least the next two years.
Berger has already said that he didn’t request a larger budget in the upcoming 2022 budget, but he pushed that goal further this afternoon, declaring at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference that “for two years at least we will not ask for one additional dollar” from the White House or Congress.
Over the past two years, Berger has pushed for what have been the most sweeping changes to the size and composition of his force among the armed services, and informed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this year he would not request any more money in the 2022 budget than what the Corps received in 2021.
By
Paul McLeary on April 13, 2021 at 2:29 PM
Rep. Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, asks a question about the F-35
WASHINGTON: A key Congressional Democrat said it’s important to “shout it from the rafters” that the Biden administration is taking too much time to release details about when the 2022 defense budget will be released, and while he’s been trying, he’s heard almost nothing back.
“I am deeply concerned about the Biden administration dragging their feet on getting us the damn budget,” chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, said during a virtual event hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. “The White House itself is not doing the job they should be doing.”