U.S. lawmakers wasted little time in identifying which programs to trim as part of a bipartisan budget deal that required cutting $5 billion from the 2016 defense budget.
Leaders of congressional defense committees -- including Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Rep. William "Mac" Thornberry, R-Texas, who heads the counterpart panel in the House, on Tuesday released a list of 98 programs that were targeted for $4.99 billion in reductions, from the controversial effort to train and equip moderate Syrian forces to the Navy Fleet Band's national tours.
The single biggest area of savings -- more than $1 billion -- came from adjusted estimates for fuel costs, which are lower than expected. Other top areas identified for reductions include line items for the Pentagon headquarters, Army civilian workforce, Army readiness and counter-terrorism partnership fund, according to a ranking compiled by Military.com.
On the modernization front, the biggest acquisition programs in the list include the Air Force's new Long Range Strike Bomber, or LRS-B, recently won by Northrop Grumman Corp. (with $230 million in reductions); the Navy's DDG-51 destroyer effort led by General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. ($150 million); the Army's PAC-3 missile segment enhancement developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. ($100 million); the Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper made by General Atomics ($80 million); and the Missile Defense Agency's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense built by Lockheed ($50 million).
The reduction to the new program to develop a fleet of next-generation bombers was because the Air Force delayed awarding a contract by several months from the spring to the fall, so the additional money wasn't needed. It wasn't immediately clear why the other efforts were targeted.
The adjustments are included in an updated version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2016, which has been introduced in the House.
The full list of the programs, sorted by rank of biggest reduction, is below:
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| LINE ITEM | AMOUNT |
|---|---|
| Fuel rate adjustments | -1,082,000 |
| FY16 Share of Planned DOD Headquarters Streamling/Attrition | -453,000 |
| Overestimation Of Army Civilian Full Time Equivalent Targets | -262,500 |
| Army Readiness increase | -250,000 |
| Counterterrorism Partnership Fund | -250,000 |
| Long Range Strike Bomber change to align with contract award delay | -230,000 |
| ANG Readiness increase | -192,600 |
| Adds National Guard & Reserve Equipment Account ‐ adjustment to House increase (remains $250M above PB) | -170,000 |
| Adds Unexecutable increase in Air Force End Strength | -150,200 |
| DDG‐51 | -150,000 |
| Syria Train & Equip program change | -125,000 |
| Afghan Security Forces Fund ‐ fuel savings | -110,000 |
| Classified Program Adjustment | -102,600 |
| Technology Offset Initiative (New Program) | -100,000 |
| PAC‐3 Missile Segment Enhancement | -100,000 |
| Coalition Support Funds | -100,000 |
| Unjustified program growth for Defense Information System Network (DISN) activities | -90,800 |
| MQ‐9 Quantity increase | -80,000 |
| Airlift Readiness Account (from OMAF Mobility Operations) | -77,000 |
| Unexecutable Navy Civilian Full Time Equivalent Growth for management functions | -66,281 |
| Reduce THAAD purchase | -50,000 |
| Joint Enabling Capabilities Command ‐ efficiency | -41,000 |
| Reduce SM3 1B purchase | -30,000 |
| Ship Outfitting | -28,907 |
| Basic research program increase ‐ Navy | -27,500 |
| Counterfire Radars | -25,000 |
| Basic research program increase ‐ Air Force | -22,500 |
| Long Range Standoff Weapon contract delay | -20,500 |
| Basic research program increase ‐ Army | -20,000 |
| Common Avionics Changes | -20,000 |
| Excess Air Force carryover ‐ Spares and Repair Parts | -20,000 |
| Restructure AF Integrated Personnel and Pay System | -19,000 |
| HARM Improvement | -18,544 |
| Logistics Operations | -17,000 |
| CARB Combating Antibiot Resistant Bacteria | -16,540 |
| Increases to NDAA Reductions Air Force unjustified contract increase | -16,100 |
| Logistics Support Activities | -16,000 |
| C‐5 Airlift Squadrons (IF) Communications Equipment/Radar Mods | -15,000 |
| Mentor Protégé Program | -15,000 |
| Common Ground Equipment | -15,000 |
| Unexecutable USAF Full Time Equivalent Increase in Combat Enhancement Forces | -14,000 |
| Joint Capability Technology Demostration | -13,000 |
| Delayed deployment of Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System | -12,700 |
| DCMA Information Technology Development | -12,500 |
| Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) contract delay | -12,358 |
| Surface Combatant Combat System Engineering | -12,300 |
| Logistics Information Technology | -12,176 |
| Automated Data Processing Equip | -12,000 |
| SHARKSEER | -11,000 |
| JIEDDO Attack The Network | -10,536 |
| STARBASE | -10,000 |
| Family Of Beyond Line‐Of‐Sight Terminals | -10,000 |
| Distributed Common Ground System‐Army | -10,000 |
| F–18 Modifications | -10,000 |
| Joint Air‐Surface Standoff Missile unit cost efficiencies | -10,000 |
| Reduce AF Acquisition Training ‐ duplication of effort | -10,000 |
| Trident II MODS program growth | -10,000 |
| Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Modifications | -10,000 |
| Maneuver Control System | -10,000 |
| Excess Navy carryover ‐ Spares and Repair Parts | -10,000 |
| F‐15 Modiciations | -10,000 |
| HC‐130J unit cost growth | -9,500 |
| Defense University Research Instrumentation Program increase | -9,000 |
| Increase in Public Affairs at Local Installations | -8,500 |
| USMC Ground Combat/Supporting Arms project delay | -8,100 |
| Joint Air‐to‐Ground Missile (JAGM) contract delays | -8,088 |
| Advanced Hawkeye Development | -8,000 |
| Next Gen Jammer Development contract delay | -8,000 |
| Common Computer Resources | -7,000 |
| MC‐130J program efficiencies | -6,700 |
| Joint Electronic Advanced Technology | -6,500 |
| Advanced EHF program growth | -6,000 |
| Fleet satellite comm follow‐on: excess storage costs | -5,700 |
| DLA Uniform Research new start | -5,360 |
| Quick Reaction Special Projects | -5,000 |
| Weather System Follow On | -5,000 |
| Transportable Tactical Command Communications | -5,000 |
| Navy Fleet Band National Tours | -5,000 |
| H–1 Upgrades | -5,000 |
| Excess carryover ‐ Spacelift Range System Space | -5,000 |
| Unexecutable USAF Full Time Equivalent Increase in Security Programs | -4,900 |
| E‐4 Modification program delay | -4,000 |
| Increase in Space and Missile Center (SMC) Civilian Workforce | -3,578 |
| Unexecutable USAF Full Time Equivalent Increase in Tactical Intel and Other Special Activities | -3,200 |
| Advanced Civil Schooling ‐ Civilian Graduate School | -3,000 |
| National Guard State Partnership Program | -2,700 |
| Joint Warfighting Program | -2,126 |
| Unexecutable USAF Full Time Equivalent Increase in Primary Combat Forces | -2,100 |
| Global Positioning (Space) program growth | -2,000 |
| Air Force Satellite Control Network system engineering | -2,000 |
| AMRAAM unit cost variance | -1,700 |
| Global Combat Support System ‐ AF Family of Systems | -1,500 |
| Civil Air Patrol | -1,150 |
| Air Force Civilian Graduate Education Program | -930 |
| Mid‐Tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR) | -894 |
| Eliminate National Guard Heritage Paintings initiative | -510 |
| Naval Sea Cadet Corps | -500 |
| C‐130 Modifications | -51 |
| TOTAL | -4,991,429 |
