Corps’ strength to remain steady under ’07 budget

[thedrifter]

February 06, 2006
Corps’ strength to remain steady under ’07 budget
By Gayle S. Putrich
Times staff writer

The president has proposed sending $16.8 billion to the Marine Corps budget for fiscal 2007, up $800 million from the fiscal 2006 budget, according to Defense Department officials.

Those funds would include $278 million in basic pay, another $1 million for special pays such as hazardous-duty and family separation pay, and $187 million in housing allowances.

In terms of end strength, the number of active-duty Marines is expected to stay at 181,000.

The Marine Corps is operating well above the 175,000 leathernecks President Bush requested for fiscal 2006. That year, Congress provided funds to bring that total to 179,000, since the services are allowed to exceed force levels by certain amounts using funds built into the budget. During fiscal 2006, that number went up another 2,000 — to 181,000 — using money from emergency wartime supplemental funds.

Another supplemental request is expected this year to keep that figure near 181,000 and pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, since published reports say no Marine Corps personnel cuts are expected in the coming year.

In fiscal 2007, the Marine Corps is expected to make its initial purchase of 15 Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles, which are slated to eventually replace the Corps’ fleet of amphibious assault vehicles. The Defense Department projected the purchase of 17 more EFVs in fiscal 2008 and expects to buy 100 of the much-anticipated vehicles in 2011. The EFV program also is expected to get $188 million in research funds for fiscal 2007, a 24.8 percent decrease from the $250 million in fiscal 2006.

The program was slashed from 16 vehicles to zero in the fiscal 2006 budget due to affordability problems and issues with key vehicle components.

A total of 851 new Humvees are included in the fiscal 2007 budget request. While it seems like a far cry from the 2,763 bought in fiscal 2006, Defense Department officials said the numbers reflect anticipated peacetime Humvee usage.

The budget request includes the purchase of 36 155mm Howitzers, down from 75 purchased in fiscal 2006.

Purchases of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft are expected to jump from nine in fiscal 2006 to 14 in fiscal 2007, with a total price tag nearing $2 billion.

The Corps also is expected to get five more KC-130J aerial refueling aircraft in the coming fiscal year.

The request includes eight more AH-1Z Super Cobra attack helicopters and UH-1Y Huey helicopters to replace older Cobras and Hueys that are expected to be eliminated sometime in fiscal 2007.

The replacement for the CH-53E Super Stallion — the CH-53K, a heavy-lift aircraft designed to operate in combat zones — will see $363 million poured into research and development accounts in fiscal 2007, up more than 34 percent from fiscal 2006 allocations. The first flight for the new helicopter is expected in late 2011, with deliveries going to the fleet in 2015. All 156 helicopters are expected to be in the air by 2021

The budget request calls for decommissioning three Austin-class amphibious transport docks and a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship in fiscal 2007. Activation of four new San Antonio-class amphibs and a large-deck assault ship will make up for the loss of the other four ships.

Fiscal 2007 also will mark the last year of buys for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. The request includes six of the systems, down from 18 in fiscal 2006.

[thedrifter]

February 06, 2006
2007 Defense budget proposal offers 2.2-percent pay raise
By Gordon Trowbridge
Times staff writer

The smallest pay raise for troops in more than a decade and billions of dollars for expensive weapons programs highlight the proposed 2007 defense budget unveiled Monday by the Bush administration.

The $439 billion budget plan would represent a 7 percent increase over the budget Congress approved for this year.

It includes a 2.2-percent military pay increase, a boost in special operations forces for the Army and Marine Corps, more than $10 billion for new F-22 and F/A-18 fighter jets, $11 billion for new ships for the Navy and $10 billion for the administration’s controversial ballistic missile defense program.

The 2.2 percent raise — tied to a government index of private-sector wage growth — would be the smallest since 1994, and is likely to meet with opposition from some on Capitol Hill.

Documents released Monday by the Pentagon show an additional $263 million planned for a second wave of raises, probably around mid-year, targeted at some senior enlisted members and warrant officers in specific occupations.

Overall, spending on military personnel costs would increase by 3.7 percent, to $111 billion.

The release of the proposal is only the first step in the long budget process. Both houses of Congress will have several chances to alter the proposals; eventually, a budget must pass both the House and Senate and get the president’s signature. For the current 2006 budget, that process did not wrap up until late last December.

The 2007 plan also includes little funding for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the war on terrorism. Since operations began in 2001, these costs have been paid for largely with emergency funding requests that have increased the nation’s overall spending on defense by 20 percent or more. Costs in Iraq alone likely will go well above $100 billion again this year.

The Defense Department request also omits several other areas of defense spending, including much homeland security funding; the nuclear weapons programs in the Department of Energy; and a number of classified programs.

Among the proposals of interest to military families:

• An average 6 percent increase in housing allowances, which defense officials said will continue their recent effort to make sure BAH eliminates, on average, all out-of-pocket housing costs.

• Family housing spending would remain nearly flat at $4.1 billion, just $100 million above this year’s level. The proposal includes funding for 48 new barracks for junior enlisted members and eight new child-care centers.

• Military construction spending would increase by more than 50 percent, to $12.6 billion. That reflects in part the first burst of spending to implement the base closing and realignment recommendations approved in 2005.

The budget was released along with formal submission of the Quadrennial Defense Review, an every-four-years assessment of defense priorities and strategy.

Combined, the documents represent some changes from past plans — including a heavier reliance on special operations forces and, in the longer term, development of better intercontinental strike capabilities.

But they also leave largely unchanged plans for expensive weapons systems such as the F-35 and F-22 fighters, V-22 Osprey cargo aircraft and the Army’s Future Combat System.

In a change that highlights the continuing struggle in Iraq, the 2007 budget proposal would boost the Army’s budget to $112 billion, a 13 percent increase from a year ago and a higher number than the Navy’s budget for the first time in many years.

Among the service-specific proposals:

• The number of Army special operations battalions would increase by one-third, as would the number of psychological operations and civil affairs soldiers. Also included is funding to continue the Army’s conversion to modular brigade combat teams, increasing the number of deployable brigades. The conversion will cost $41 billion from 2007 to 2011.

• The Navy would receive funding for two DD(X)-class destroyers, two of the service’s new Littoral Combat Ships and a Virginia-class nuclear submarine. The Pentagon also would spend $387 to begin work on a conventional version of the Trident submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missile.

• The budget would pay for previously announced plans to establish a Marine Corps Special Operation Command. Overall, the Marine Corps budget would increase from $16 billion this year to $16.8 in 2007. The Air Force budget, by comparison, would grow to $130 billion.

[thedrifter]

February 06, 2006 <br />
Funding, fees would rise under ’07 VA budget <br />
By Rick Maze <br />
Times staff writer <br />
<br />
The Bush administration is asking for a 12.2-percent increase in funding for veterans programs,...