“FY-06 and FY-07 JCM funds have been released,” Dan O’Boyle wrote in a brief statement sent to Inside the Army Oct. 20. “The joint attack munition systems project manager in the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, here, is prepared to initiate a restructured system development and demonstration effort accordingly.”

Pentagon Spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin, however, declined to comment on JCM funding and the status of the program.

“Everything at this point is pre-decisional and it would be inappropriate to discuss,” Irwin wrote in a Oct. 20 e-mail.

Designed to be a next-generation, multipurpose replacement for Hellfire, Longbow Hellfire and Maverick air-to-ground missiles, JCM was slated for termination by the Defense Department in program budget decision No. 753, issued in December 2004. In the PBD, the Pentagon cut $2.3 billion in JCM funding allocated to complete development and buy 2,134 missiles. The Army’s share was $928 million, the Navy’s $1.5 billion.

However, Congress continued to add funds to the program in an effort to keep it alive. The FY-06 Defense Appropriations Act included $30 million for JCM development ($26 million for the Army and $4 million for the Navy), while the FY-07 Defense Appropriations Act, signed into law last month, earmarked another $30 million for the program -- $25 million for the Army and $5 million for the Navy.

The services, however, had not until recently been allowed to spend the FY-06 JCM funds.

During a May 17 Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) quizzed Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace and Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas about the program.

“What happened to the $30 million that was appropriated by this committee last year for [JCM] -- that OSD has withheld?” Shelby asked.

“My understanding, at this moment, is that it has not yet been spent,” Jonas replied.

Since this hearing, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council revalidated the JCM requirement.

“There is still a need -- there is a gap -- for [the missile], which leaves open the opportunity to bring the Joint Common Missile program back,” Lt. Gen. Joseph Yakovac told ITA July 13.

Then, in September, Lt. Gen. Jerry Sinn, the service’s budget chief, said dollars earmarked for a JCM program would be included in the Army’s long-term spending plan, covering fiscal years 2008 to 2013, when it is submitted to OSD.

“When we put this [program objective memorandum] together, we’re going to fund it,” Sinn told ITA Sept. 7. The three-star added that in the “neighborhood” of $150 million would be included to fund the JCM program in FY-08.