Pentagon details $718B budget request

The Pentagon unveiled the specifics Tuesday of its $718 billion fiscal 2020 budget request, promising the budget would “strongly position the U.S. military for great power competition for decades to come.”

“With the largest research and development request in 70 years, this strategy-driven budget makes necessary investments in next-generation technology, space, missiles, and cyber capabilities,” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement Tuesday. “The operations and capabilities supported by this budget will strongly position the U.S. military for great power competition for decades to come.”

The Pentagon’s release Tuesday fills in details after the White House released the broad outlines of President Trump’s defense budget proposal on Monday.

{mosads}Trump is requesting a total of $750 billion for defense for fiscal 2020. That includes $718 billion for the Pentagon as well as $32 billion in non-Pentagon defense funding.

The Pentagon’s budget request includes $164 billion for a fund known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that breaks down into $66 billion in war funds and $98 billion in what would otherwise be considered base budget items.

OCO is theoretically a war fund only to be used for temporary expenses, though over the years it has increasingly been used for base budget items since it is not subject to budget caps.

But the Trump administration’s budget plan relies on OCO even more than has become normal, using the account to skirt budget caps and avoid having to make a deal with Democrats to also raise nondefense spending.

The Pentagon also confirmed Tuesday that it plans to buy 78 F-35 fighter jets, or six fewer than previously planned, for $11.2 billion and eight F-15EXs for $1.1 billion.

The military has not bought F-15X fighters from Boeing since 2001. The timing of the request while the department is being led by former Boeing executive Shanahan has led to accusations about Boeing’s influence, but Pentagon officials insisted the decision was made by former Defense Secretary James Mattis.

“Tech-air was one of the key issues that the leadership reviewed as part of its program budget review, really looking at what threat we’re facing and what our cost calculus is and what we need to address different parts of our threat,” acting comptroller Elaine McCusker said at a press briefing. “And that’s how we came up with the balance between the fourth and fifth generation aircraft, a decision that was made by Secretary Mattis before he left.”

The budget would also fund a total increase of 7,722 service members, split between 6,215 in active duty and 1,507 in the reserves and Guard. In active duty, the Army would get 2,000 more soldiers, the Navy 1,623 more sailors, the Marines 100 more troops and the Air Force 2,492 more airmen.

The budget request also has a total of $14.7 billion for space, including the previously announced $72 million for the establishment of Space Force. The Pentagon is also asking for $83 million to stand up Space Command and $150 million to create the Space Development Agency, which would handle acquisition.

The budget sees a slight dip in the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) fund, which is meant to reassure allies wary about Russian aggression. The fiscal 2020 request for the EDI is $5.9 billion, down from $6.5 billion in fiscal 2019.

McCusker said the drop is “absolutely not” because of a lowered threat from Russia, but rather because of some of the work funded last year is now done. She also said the United States is looking at “increased burden sharing” from allies.

“We are continued to be committed to our NATO partnership and I think as you see, from the strategy you know, we’re very much preparing for great power competition,” she said. “What you saw last year was a pretty significant investment in EDI and part of that was to posture ourselves and our equipment in that theater. And we are now moving into just sort of our exercises and the other things that we do in that account, with that other [military construction] and positioning done.”

Also trimmed is the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) budget, despite the Trump administration’s recently released Missile Defense Review that promised to bulk up missile defenses. The agency’s budget request is $9.4 billion, down from $9.9 billion in fiscal 2019.

McCusker defended this year’s request by saying the last two years have seen a “surge” in missile defense spending and that there are missile defense funds in the fiscal 2020 request outside the MDA. The Pentagon total missile defense request is for $13.6 billion, including the $9.4 billion for the MDA. 

“It is important to note that we surged our Missile Defense investment in FY18 and 19,” she said. “And we are now sustaining that surge while investing it in Missile Defense Review efforts to shift the cost curve and expand new facets of defeat and defense.”

Updated at 4:43 p.m.