U.S. MARINE CORPS BUDGET PAUSES DRAWDOWN, INCREASES PROCUREMENT SPENDING
NEWTOWN, Conn. - The U.S. Marine Corps plans to pause its end strength drawdown while assessing the impact of a smaller force on operations. There were some 202,000 Marines at the height of operations in Iraq, though the service's FY16 budget supports an end strength of 184,00. That number falls to 182,000 by FY17. The previous year's budget would have brought the force down to 175,000, but there are concerns about cutting so many troops when the service continues to respond crises abroad.
At the same time, the Marine Corps is bolstering its procurement coffers from $935.2 million enacted in FY15 to $1.1 billion in the FY16 request. The budget supports low-rate initial production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, with $79.4 million for 109 JLTVs. The Marines have programmed around $2 billion for 4,476 vehicles through FY20, with a total fleet of 5,500 vehicles planned. The FY16 budget also includes $130.7 million for three G/ATOR radar systems, and $84.9 million for four RQ-21A Blackjack systems (one system consists of five air vehicles and two ground control stations).
The budget plan supports upgrades to 392 amphibious assault vehicles as a bridge to procuring the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) Increment 1. Two vendors will be awarded ACV engineering, manufacturing and development contracts in the first quarter of FY16. The service plans to buy the first 26 Increment 1 vehicles in FY18.
The FY16 budget also includes 28 UH-1Y/AH-1Z helicopters, and accelerates procurement of the final 109 helicopters - procurement now ends in FY19 instead of FY20. The 28 aircraft funded in FY16 include the last 12 UH-1Ys, as well as 16 AH-1Zs.
Source: Forecast International - International Military Markets
Associated URL:
http://www.forecastinternational.com
Author: S. McDougall, North America Analyst
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