Although the threat of a veto hangs over the defense policy bill if it includes a provision to take $18 billion from a wartime spending account to pay for modernization and readiness, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the same thing was done when the Obama administration took office. Read More
U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2015, NASA Photo
The House and Senate armed services committees are committed to improving defense acquisition, boosting military readiness funding and breaking down Pentagon bureaucracy through their annual defense bills, even if these goals are at times causing friction with the Defense Department, the two committees’ staff directors said today. Read More
To reach full auditability, the Navy must be able to account for all the money it spends, from buying the biggest of ships to the most mundane of labor contracts.
The comptrollers and chief financial officers for the Defense Department and the three service departments assured the House Armed Services Committee that they are on track to meet the congressional mandate to pass a complete financial audit by Sept. 30, 2017. Read More
Sailors assigned to amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) conduct maintenance during a ship’s restricted availability (SRA) period in Sasebo on April 14, 2016. US Navy photo.
A mid-year review of Navy operations and maintenance funding found a $848-million shortfall, forcing the Navy to restrict flying hours, defer five ship maintenance availabilities until Fiscal Year 2017, defer continuous maintenance work for two amphibious ready groups and a carrier strike group – and nearly suspend work at the service’s largest regional maintenance center. Read More
Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.)
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he will introduce an amendment next week to raise by $18 billion authorized defense spending to cover the difference between what the Pentagon asked for in its last budget and what it is seeking in this one. Read More
USS George Washington (CVN-73) and its strike group in 2013. The House voted to refuel the carrier rather than decommission the ship. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee this week passed a bill that gave the Navy and Marine Corps virtually everything they wanted in their procurement accounts – plus an additional $5.9 billion in a separate account – creating a Reagan-era defense bill for their Senate counterparts to accept or reject. Read More
Workers stand pose for a photo in the four-tube “quad-pack” built for the U.S. Ohio Replacement-class and U.K. Successor-class. General Dynamics Electric Boat Photo via US Navy
The Navy could cut Ohio Replacement Program (ORP) missile tube acquisition costs by 25 percent if Congress granted a “continuous production” authority that would allow the U.S. and UK ballistic missile submarine replacement programs buy the tubes at a steady pace, according to a recent report obtained by USNI News. Read More
Aviation Structural Mechanic (Equipment) 2nd Class M. V. Volosko, assigned to the Pukin Dogs of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143, places a canopy brace on an F/A-18E Super Hornet in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) on June 17, 2015. US Navy photo.
The Navy may get a boost in readiness through additional military construction to support aviation readiness and shipyard workforce growth, if provisions in the House Armed Services Committee’s 2017 defense bill pass, but the Marine Corps would not get any aviation readiness dollars above what the service requested in its February budget submission. Read More
Aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) sits pier side in the early morning light at Newport News Shipbuilding in 2014. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services authorizes $20.6 billion in spending for Navy shipbuilding programs, prohibits the inactivation of cruisers as part of the Navy’s proposed phased modernization plan, and calls for the Navy to build aircraft carriers in four-year periods instead of five, according to its version of the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, released today. Read More
MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters assigned to the Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 41 are parked on the flight line at Naval Air Station North Island. The Navy has spent its limited military construction funds on forward-located bases and training and maintenance facilities for new aircraft models, leaving little funding for maintaining and improving administrative and residential buildings. US Navy photo.
A group of lawmakers is looking at Navy base infrastructure and facilities maintenance as a readiness issue this year, after years and years of military construction (MILCON) funding being sacrificed as a bill-payer to support high operational tempos and rising acquisition costs. Read More
