U.S. Army Strategizes Ahead of Budget

By Bettina H. Chavanne

With the fiscal 2010 budget increasingly expected to get pushed out, the U.S. Army may find itself with extra time on its hands to come up with smarter and more efficient ways to upgrade its assets as the threat of major program cancellations looms.

No one in Army leadership is willing to comment on any of its programs — imposing a “cone of silence,” as it was called, at the Association of the U.S. Army winter symposium in February. Not even Congress can get anything out of service officials, as evidenced by the multiple cancellations and Capitol Hill no-shows by the service at Future Combat Systems (FCS) hearings in the past few weeks (Aerospace DAILY, March 27).

But activity behind the scenes is far from stalled. Several Army sources have confirmed that the FCS leadership team is reviewing possible alternative configurations for the program should Congress impose predicted cutbacks. Lawmakers have annually trimmed and scrutinized the massive modernization program, and they have mandated a go-or-no-go decision this year.

The Army’s stalled Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program also is in limbo until the new budget, with a new request for proposals (RFP) now held up until at least April. But the break is permitting the Army to re-examine its supposed service life extension program (SLEP), called Life Support 2020, that it has proposed for its aging Kiowa Warrior fleet. “Life Support 2020 is just a bucket of modifications to address obsolescence,” Brig. Gen. William Crosby, program executive officer for aviation, told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee March 31. “Now that the ARH capability has been delayed, there are things that need to be done, and we apply those modifications to that 2020 bucket. This is not a SLEP.”

Life Support 2020 is supposed to keep the Kiowas flying until 2020, at which point the aircraft will be replaced or run through a more significant upgrade.

Photo: US Army