R
ELEASED ON FEBRUARY 12,
the $686.1-billion Fiscal Year
(FY) 2019 President’s budget
for the Department of
Defense (DoD) includes $
million in funding associated
with overseas contingency operations
(OCO). The latter provides funding for
the European Defense Initiative (EDI)
and the likes of the Afghanistan and
Iraq/Syria missions. The base budget of
$617 billion represents a 10.1 per cent
increase over the 2018 budget and is
intended to allow the DoD to begin
recovering from what has been declared
as $400 billion in lost capability in
recent years.
The army will receive $182.1 billion,
the navy will get $194.1 billion and the
air force will receive $194.2 billion, which
represent 27, 28 and 28 per cent of the
budget respectively. Procurement gets
the biggest increase, with a $24-billion
increase to $131.1 billion. Research and
development funds will go up by $
billion to $90.6 billion.
The request provides for the purchase
of 103 ghters including 77 F-35s, 26
airlift/special operations/tanker and
transport aircraft, 16 electronic combat
and maritime aircraft, 163 helicopters/tilt-
rotors, and 42 unmanned aerial vehicles/
air systems (UAV/UAS). Tom Kaminski
(FY 18 and OCO authorization) FY19 base budget
Type Qty Budget (millions) Qty Budget (millions)
E-2D 5 733.9 4 742.
KC-130J 2 129.6 2 160.
C-40A (USMC) - - 2 206.
F/A-18E/F 14 1,200.0 24 1,937.
F-35B 20 2,398.1 20 2,312.
F-35C 4 582.3 9 1,145.
CMV-22B 6 677.4 7 806.
AH-1Z 22 678.4 25* 820.
CH-53K 4 567.6 8 1,113.
VH-92A - - 6 649.
MQ-4C 3 522.1 3 464.
P-8A 7 1,245.3 10 1,803.
* Final purchase completes program of record. Total production 160 UH-1Ys and 182 AH-1Zs.
(FY 18 and OCO authorization) FY19 base budget FY19 OCO budget FY19 total request
Type Qty Budget (millions) Qty Budget (millions) Qty Budget (millions) Qty Budget (millions)
MH-47G (reman/new) 6 202.8 6 99.3* 1 25.0 7 124.
UH-60M/HH-60M** 48** 938.3 49 988.8** 1 21.2 50 1,010.
UH-60V conversion - - 18*** 146.1 - - 18*** 146.
AH-64E IIIA (reman) 52 765.0 48 753.2 48 753.
AH-64E IIIB (new) 13 374.1 12 284.6 - - 12 284.
MQ-1C 11 117.5 4 43.3 6 60.0 10 103.
* Includes 9 MH-47Gs for ARNG.
** Includes 24 UH/HH-60M for ARNG.
*** UH-60L to UH-60V digital upgrades includes nine aircraft for ARNG.
The Army budget request re ects an
increase in end strength to 487,
soldiers for the active component,
343,500 for the Army National
Guard (ARNG) and 199,500 for US
Army Reserve Command (USARC)
by the end of Fiscal 2019. Aviation
procurement sustains Apache, Black
Hawk and Chinook remanufacturing.
By FY23, the service expects to
update 182 UH-60Ls to a new digital
con guration and the FYDP that runs
through 2023 calls for the purchase of
215 Black Hawks.
In addition to 52 remanufactured
AH-64Es, the service will receive
12 new-production aircraft. Since
purchases of new AH-64Es began the
service has procured 38. Plans include
a total of 50 new aircraft with the last
examples being acquired in FY21.
US Army
The $179.1-billion submission
represents a $6.3-billion increase over
FY18. It provides $19.0 billion for the
procurement of 120 manned and
unmanned aircraft with an additional
535 following in the FYDP. Funding
allows for 335,400 sailors and 186,
Marines as well as 59,100 personnel
for the Naval Reserve and 38,500 for
the US Marine Corps Reserve. Naval
aviation will maintain a total aircraft
inventory (TAI) of 4,094 aircraft,
although the primary authorized
aircraft (PAA) total will decrease slightly
from 3,586 to 3,556.
Planned actions in FY 2019 will
see the F/A-18As operated by the
reserve component in adversary and
training roles replaced by F/A-18B/
Cs transferred from the active
component. The Marine Corps will
receive funding for its rst six VH-92A
presidential helicopters, as well
as its nal batch of 25 AH-1Zs and
eight CH-53Ks.
The FYDP provides for 198 additional
Lightning IIs, comprising 101 F-35Bs
and 97 F-35Cs. The navy will, however,
continue to procure 110 additional
Super Hornets through FY23, bringing
total production to 706 aircraft. The
service is also proposing a multi-year
procurement (MYP) covering FY19-
for the Super Hornets.
US Navy
http://www.combataircraft.net // May 2018 09
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