U.S. Army Details Wartime Needs

[Batgirl]

The U.S. Army has sent Congress a whopping $41 billion bill to cover its operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and other wartime needs for the rest of this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

The fiscal 2005 Army Supplemental Request sent to Congress Feb. 14 totals nearly $57 billion, but includes close to $16 billion in advanced funding the service has already spent.

The $41 billion request includes more than $17 billion for operations and maintenance and $8.9 billion for procurement and research and development initiatives. Army budget officials have admitted that the service’s $98.6 billion budget request for fiscal 2006 — which will pay for day-to-day, peacetime operations next year — had to be considered alongside the 2005 supplemental request, which will pay for ongoing operations including pay, construction and restocking ammunition, plus the repair and repurchasing of battle-damaged gear.


The Army, which requested far more for its supplemental than the other services, is bearing the brunt of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, with 19 brigades fielded.

The supplemental request is heavy with combat vehicles, including $3.2 billion for more than 5,000 armored and unarmored Humvees, nearly 100 new M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicles and nearly two dozen new Strykers.

More than $2 billion is requested in the supplemental for the repair and upgrade of Humvees, M1A2 Abrams tanks and other trucks and armored vehicles damaged in combat zones. The request also earmarks $261 million in construction funds to ready several bases in the United States for the Army’s “modularity” initiative.

Significant Army supplemental requests include:

• 13 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters ($371.9 million) and five UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopters ($50.8 million).

• 93 Bradley fighting vehicles ($195.7 million); 4,528 up-armored Humvees ($761.8 million); 1,645 standard Humvees ($136.8 million); 1,520 Medium Tactical Vehicles ($181.7 million); and 22 Strykers ($44.5 million).

• 68 155mm howitzers ($58 million); 39,355 M4 rifles ($55.4 million); 4,528 M249 Squad Automatic Weapons ($19.1 million).

• $560.2 million for construction at camps and logistics bases in Iraq; $127.1 million for construction at Bagram and Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Defense News