The $675 Billion Defense Spending Plan for FY2019 (S. 3159)

What is S. 3159?

(Updated February 17, 2019)

This bill would provide $675 billion in FY2019 for the Dept. of Defense (DOD), an increase of $20.4 billion from the prior year. Of the total, the base budget is $607.1 billion while $67.9 billion is provided for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). A detailed breakdown of where that funding would go can be found below.

Military Personnel & Pay: This section would fund an Active Duty end strength of 1,329,461 servicemembers and a Selected Reserve end strength of 816,900 for a total strength of 2,146,361 — an increase of 6,961 servicemembers from the prior year. A military pay raise of 2.6%, the largest in nine years, would be funded by this bill. It’d also include additional funding targeted to support the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs, the State Partnership Program, and the Advance Trauma Training Program.

Readiness: A total of $232.2 billion in base and OCO funding would be provided for operation and maintenance accounts to improve the military’s readiness. This includes funding for training and equipment modernization to restore readiness in the near- and long-term. It’d also include targeted funding for the following:

• $350 million for Navy facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization;

• $350 million for Air Force weapons systems sustainment;

• $23 million in funding for U.S. Southern Command Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance requirements (which includes the Caribbean plus Central and South America);

• Full funding for flight operations and force related training for Special Operations Command.

Shipbuilding: A total of $24 billion would be provided for Navy shipbuilding, including $2.3 billion in additional funding for high priority shipbuilding and industrial base programs. It’d fund the construction of 13 new ships:

• Two Virginia class submarines;

• Three Arleigh Burke class destroyers;

• Two Littoral Combat Ships;

• One expeditionary sea base and one expeditionary fast transport;

• Two TAO fleet oilers; one towing, salvage, and rescue ship; and one cable ship.

Additionally, this section would provide:

• $500 million in advance procurement for an LPD Flight II amphibious transport dock;

• $350 million in advance procurement for the LHA 9 amphibious assault ship;

• $250 million in advance procurement to purchase an additional Arleigh Burke class destroyer in FY2021;

• $250 million for submarine industrial base expansion to increase capacity and create multiple suppliers for critical submarine components.

Aviation Programs: A total of $42.2 billion would be provided for the procurement of military aircraft, including $3.8 billion to address high priority aviation programs across the services such as:

• $1.2 billion for eight F-35 carrier variants and four F-35 short takeoff/vertical landing Joint Strike Fighters (Navy & Marine Corps);

• $720 million for additional AH-64E Apache helicopters (Army);

• $320 for 15 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters (Army National Guard);

• $300 million for the O/A-X Light Attack Aircraft program (Air Force);

• $240 million for three V-22 Osprey aircraft (Navy);

• $120 million for Air Force F-35 advance procurement for FY2020;

• $200 million for Navy and Marine Corps aviation spares and repair parts to address maintenance issues;

• An additional $375 million to support the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, including additional MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles.

Missile Defense: A total of $10.5 billion would be provided for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), which includes $1.2 billion to support unfunded priorities and emergent threats including:

• $100 million for the development of a space-based Missile Defense Tracking System to detect conventional ballistic missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles;

• $85 million to continue research and development of three separate laser scaling efforts;

• $46 million to accelerate development of critical technologies against hypersonic threats;

• $285 million to address a U.S. Pacific Command Joint Emergent Operational Need.

• $500 million for Israeli Cooperative Programs.

Munitions: $18.5 billion would be provided for missile and ammunition programs, including $366 million in additional, targeted funding for high priority munitions. That’d include $125 million to expand Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and Long Range Anti-SHip Missile production rates and an additional $57 million for the Army’s industrial facilities to increase production capacity.

Defense Health: $34.5 billion would be provided for the Defense Health Program, which provides medical services for military personnel and their families, continues advancements in medical research, and implements the next generation of electronic health records. Of the total, $974 million would be provided for defense medical research efforts, including $330 million for the competitively awarded peer-reviewed medical research program, and $202 million to advance DOD medical research priorities.

MISCELLANEOUS

• $929 million in additional funding would be provided to support and accelerate offensive and defensive hypersonics research and prototyping efforts; including $345 million for the prompt global strike capability development and $300 million for the Air Force’s hypersonic conventional strike and air-launched rapid response weapons.

• $317 million in additional funding to further directed energy technology and transition such activities to offensive and defensive capabilities in the future; including $150 million for the Air Force to apply directed energy to airbase defense, precision attack, and aircraft self-protection.

• $447 million in additional funding to ensure access to trusted microelectronics and develop manufacturing processes for next generation chips.

• $308 million in additional funding to accelerate the pursuit of state of the art AI systems that can be rapidly adapted to the warfighting mission needs of the DOD.

• $356 million in additional funding to expand and accelerate cyber research across the DOD.

• $564 million in additional funding to develop enhanced offensive and defensive space capabilities, including $100 million for advanced sensors for the successor to the space based infrared system and $200 million for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) development efforts.

Argument in favor

This bipartisan bill appropriately funds the needs of America’s military, ensuring that the military is prepared to defend the nation while giving troops and military families a much-deserved raise.

Argument opposed

While funding the military is a critical function of the federal government, $675 billion is far too much and taxpayer dollars would be better spent in other ways.

Impact

Military personnel and their families; and the Dept. of Defense.

Cost of S. 3159

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) offered the following statement on his committee’s passage of this bill:

“This bill sustains U.S. force structure and improves military readiness. It also recommends investments in future technologies needed to defend our nation in an increasingly complex and competitive national security environment. Our military must maintain its technological superiority and this bill does that through important investments in basic research, hypersonics, directed energy, missile defense, cybersecurity, and our test and evaluation infrastructure.”

This legislation passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 30-1 vote.

Media:

• Senate Appropriations Committee Press Release