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Congressional Testimony
September 21, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 4854 words
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES
SUBCOMMITTEE:
MILITARY PROCUREMENT
HEADLINE: TESTIMONY MILITARY PROC
UREMENT
TESTIMONY-BY: LARRY R. ELLIS , DEPUTY CHIEF OF
STAFF FOR OPERATIONS AND PLANS
AFFILIATION: OPERATIONS
AND PLANS
BODY:
SEPTEMBER 21, 2000 STATEMENT BY
LIEUTENANT GENERAL LARRY R. ELLIS DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR OPERATIONS AND PLANS
ON MILITARY PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENTS AND FUNDING Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the
Arms equipment, procurement, and ammunition requirements. It is my privilege to
represent The Army leadership and America's soldiers who rely on all of us to
provide them with the capabilities needed to execute the National Military
Strategy. Let me take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathy at the
passing of a great patriot-Congressman Bateman of Virginia- your colleague. The
Army leadership also thanks you for your help with the Army's fiscal year 2001
budget, and keeping this Army the world's premier land force. I would like to
take this occasion to address the key challenges the Army faces today-the
challenge of sustaining, recaptalizing, and modernizing its existing force in
order to ensure we honor our non- negotiable contract with the American
people-to fight and win the Nation's wars. TRANSFORMATION I would like to thank
the committee for their support of the Army's transformation effort. Your
continued commitment is critical as the Army seeks to address operational
shortfalls to become more strategically responsive and dominant across the
spectrum of military operations. The Army leadership has previously testified to
our Transformation strategy, which consists of the objective, interim, and
legacy force. Army Transformation requires us to balance two competing, but
crucially important demands. First, we must sustain, recapitalize, and modernize
the current force, to ensure readiness to meet the National Military Strategy.
Today, we project that transformation to the Objective Force will begin in the
2008 time frame and take about 20 years to complete. Second, we must continue to
invest aggressively in Science and Technology to provide for technological
solutions by 2003 for Objective Force. That Objective Force will be more
deployable, more lethal, more survivable, and more sustainable than the current
force. Between now and fielding of the Objective Force, we have an operational
shortfall-an inability to get forces on the ground quickly with the requisite
combat power to influence a potential crisis. Our heavy forces cannot deploy
quickly to all the places required and must enter through predictable sea and
air. ports of entry. Our light forces can deploy rapidly, but lack staying power
in the high intensity environment. To address this capabilities gap, we will
field Interim Brigade Combat Teams that will be strategically deployable and
capable of operations across the entire spectrum. If the past is any indicator,
we will face an operational need to employ the Interim Brigade Combat Teams
several times in the next ten years. To meet these requirements, the Army plans
to transform itself over time to an Objective Force. The technology and
resources to reach this objective force will take time. Therefore, the Army must
procure an interim force; and sustain, recapitalize, and modernize the current
force to meet commanders-in-chief requirements. THE OBJECTIVE FORCE Today, the
Science and Technology community is working hard to develop answers to: How do
we reduce armored volume in combat vehicles while increasing survivability? How
do we increase deployability without sacrificing survivability and lethality?
How do we reduce in-theater support needs, thereby reducing strategic lift
requirements? These and other questions guide a major Science and Technology
effort to develop technologies that will give the Objective Force its desired
characteristics of responsiveness, agility, versatility, deployability,
lethality, survivability, and sustainability. Our challenge to the Science and
Technology community is to come back with a comprehensive set of technological
readiness decisions by fiscal year 2003. We anticipate five years of development
before new technologies will be produced. Transformation to the Objective Force
will encompass the entire Army. The Legacy Force will transform directly to the
Objective Force, and the Interim Force will follow. When the technologies are
mature, and when the production lines are ready, we will field the Objective
Force in unit sets of new, thoroughly integrated systems. In response to the
draft Future Combat System Mission Needs Statement, the Army Science and
Technology partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, have
established an aggressive demonstration program. Congress added $3.0 million in
fiscal year 2000 and the Army reprogrammed $9.0 million additional to support
this effort. The Army also identified Science and Technology programs that
support the Future Combat System initiative, budgeted $583 million (fiscal years
2001- 2005), established a senior level technical oversight group, and assigned
an Army Program Manager to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The vast
majority of Army Science and Technology spending is devoted to developing the
basic foundation of the Objective Force including the Future Combat Systems. THE
INTERIM FORCE The Interim Brigade Combat Teams meet an immediate operational
requirement to provide commanders-in-chief with enhanced warfighting
capabilities. The Interim Brigade Combat Team features an unprecedented
combination of deployability and combat power. Interim Brigade Combat Teams
augment the capabilities of our current mix of heavy and light units. The Army
intends to transform five to eight brigades. We are funded now to field two
Interim Brigade Combat Teams. The plan is for the first Interim Brigade Combat
Team to be operational by December 2001, and the second Interim Brigade Combat
Team to be operational by December 2002. The remaining three to six brigades
will become operational by 2007. Interim Brigade Combat Teams will not increase
the number of brigade combat teams in the field today. Instead, currently
existing brigade teams will be reconfigured, equipped, and trained for this
capability. The first two unit-specific conversion decisions have been made-a 2d
Infantry Division heavy brigade and a 25th Infantry Division light brigade (both
at Fort Lewis, Washington). Subsequent conversions are expected to include a mix
of Active and Reserve Component units, both heavy and light. The Army will meet
commanders-in-chief warfight requirements throughout the transformation. THE
LEGACY FORCE The United States Army remains the most powerful and respected land
power in the world, and our National Military Strategy charter demands it remain
strong. One of the big challenges with the Legacy Force is the age of equipment.
Our Abrams tank was fielded in 1981, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in 1982, and
the Ml 09 Field Artillery howitzer in 1960. Although each system has been
significantly upgraded over the years, they will remain in the force for another
30 years. Seventy-five percent of current Army systems exceed half of their
expected service life. The Army's modernization and recapitalization strategy
addresses the problems associated with outdated and aging weapon systems and
equipment (reduced safety, reduced reliability, and increased operations and
support costs). The Army has not and cannot accept any degradation in current
readiness. Fiscal constraints, coupled with requirements for near- term
readiness, have had an enormous impact on Army modernization programs. The Army
has shouldered a heavy burden in the major deployments of the last decade.
Increased deployments have led to more maintenance of equipment, and increased
operations and support costs. To meet these increased operational costs, the
Army has had to reprogram resources internally. For the past several years, $500
million per year has migrated from procurement, sacrificing future capability to
preserve current readiness. To sustain a force that provides the necessary
combat overmatch at an affordable price, the Army must rebuild and selectively
upgrade current systems. The return on recapitalization is improved safety,
extended service life, increased reliability, reduced operations and maintenance
costs, and enhanced capabilities. For example, the Army's
Chinook heavy lift cargo helicopter, has been in our inventory
for 37 years and will remain In the inventory for another 30 years. It is being
upgraded from the CH-47D model to the CH-47F model. Fielding will begin on time,
but a tight budget means it will occur at a slow rate. As a result, CH-47IDs
will be kept in the force longer, driving up Operational and Support (O & S)
costs and putting readiness at risk. We must break this type of readiness and
procurement "death spiral" to ensure the long-term health of the Army. Over the
past three years, we have consistently identified approximately a $5 billion per
year shortfall in research, development and acquisition. Recent Congressional
plus-ups have helped; however, most of this shortfall remains, and primarily
impacts the Army's modernization and recapitalization of the current force.
Currently, we have a shortfall of $4.6 billion. The Army is modernizing and
recapitalizing selected Active and Reserve Component formations.
Recapitalization enhancements will include upgraded variants of fielded
equipment, such as the M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Program tank, M2A3 Bradley
Fighting Vehicle and AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter. We will modernize by
acquiring new systems, such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, the
Comanche helicopter and the Crusader advanced field artillery system. ARMY
AVIATION While awaiting the RAH-66 Comanche, the Army must maintain its Aviation
warfighting capability by sustaining, recapitalizing, and modernizing fielded
aviation systems, the AH-64A/D Apache, UH- 60A/L Black Hawk, and CH-47D/F
Chinook. It must also divest obsolete UH-1 Huey, AH-1 Cobra,
and OH58A/C aircraft. These aircraft are experiencing increasing 0 & S costs
and decreasing operational readiness. The Army is programmed to procure IO UH-60
Black Hawks per year against a requirement of 241 aircraft needed to completely
divest the Vietnam era UH-I Huey at this rate it would take 24 years to procure
all systems. The Army grounded or restricted flight operations on the AH-64A/D
Apache, the CH-47D Chinook, and the OH-58D Kjowa Warrior fleets
in fiscal year 1999 and fiscal year 2000 for a variety of safety of flight
issues. These included: tail rotor drive hanger bearings, main transmission
accessory- clutches, backup control system servos, main rotor attaching pins,
vertical stabilizer attachment bolts and electrical power system problems
(AH-64D Apache only). These safety of flight groundings have significant
readiness impacts and increased costs. For instance, the Apache transmission was
changed from a conditional replacement to a 750- hour operational time limit for
replacement. The result of this safety of flight change is an increase in
operations and support cost to conduct depot level repair of Apache
transmissions. The depot level repairs have increased from 60 transmissions per
year to 200 Apache transmissions per year at a cost of $60 million and 3200
man-hours. Additionally, over 200 assorted safety of flight deficiencies have
occurred in the past two years that are the result of unforcasted technical
deficiencies of components. The Army is currently taking a major step forward in
its Army Aviation Modernization Plan. Of our four primary helicopter systems,
only the UH-60 Black Hawk consistently met or exceeded mission capable goals
during the period from June 1998 through July 2000. As a result of this downward
trend across the fleet, the Army initiated a comprehensive readiness and
sustainment aviation task force to address sustainment and recapitalization of
the fleet. The plan has put in place an aviation strategy that will modernize
both the Active and Reserve Component aviation; divest the Army of obsolete
systems such as the UH-1 Huey, AH-1 Cobra, and OH-58 Klowa Warrior; and
transform our currently pure, single function, aviation organizations into
multifunctional organizations, with embedded reconnaissance, attack, and utility
aviation assets. The $200 million in fiscal year 2001 adds from this committee
have provided some relief. The Army will also continue to refine requirements
and implementation strategies in the fiscal year 2002 budget. AMMUNITION
Ammunition is an essential component of the Army's transformation vision. For
the past decade, the Army has been consuming the stockpile of ammunition created
to meet the Cold War requirement. Those stocks are nearing exhaustion and
reaching their recapitalization point. The Army's budget maintains readiness
standards and provides for modest increases in modem preferred munitions.
Transformation ammunition requirements are only now being identified as
structure, systems and doctrine decisions evolve. The Army has several ongoing
studies that will identify munitions requirements in support of the Army's
transformation. We expect preliminary results from our analyses in the coming
months. The Army's ammunition procurement request for fiscal year 2001 includes
approximately $270 million for modern war reserve items and unfunded
requirements of $189 million for modern ammunition. Congress added an additional
$48 million to the Army's ammunition appropriation. Our current large stocks of
older rounds, particularly artillery and tank ammunition, permit the Army to
accept risk until preferred and modem items can be procured in larger
quantities. Approximately 65 percent of the annual ammunition budget supports
near-term readiness (training), and the Army continues to fund training to
standard. The Army identified approximately $35 million in shortfalls, mostly
distribution stocks which impact timely training. Congress, in the Joint
Appropriation, reduced this shortfall to $14 million. The Army's budget request
included funds for projected support of contingency deployments. Recent
deployments and contingencies have had minimal impact on ammunition stocks
because operations have been peaceful. Some additional pre-deployment training
required additional ammunition, which the Army was able to provide from
available stocks. As we move forward into the 21st century, we will face a
mounting recapitalization challenge for a number of Army munitions. Although the
Army is developing and producing new rounds that will ensure overmatch on the
battlefield, affordability limits rapid replacement of aging stocks. The Army
will require increases of $252 million in fiscal year 2001 for recapatalization
of ammunition. The continued support of the Congress will be critical to helping
the Army maintain adequate warfighting munitions inventories. INTELLIGENCE AND
ELECTRONIC WARFARE (IEW) ASSETS On the future battlefield our forces will rely
on enhanced situational awareness. The Army has taken steps to ensure a seamless
architecture of intelligence systems by providing a common view of the
battlefield across all echelons. Technologies, including those that reside in
space, must be leveraged that allow for greater access to databases, processing
capability, and analytical effort. This reach back capability conducted outside
of the theater of operation mitigates the risk to those who project the force
and to forward-deployed tactical commanders. In terms of airborne sensors, the
Army will maintain the-current Airborne Reconnaissance Low and Guardrail Common
Sensor systems, while continuing to assess alternatives for the follow-on
platform, Aerial Common Sensor. The Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program has
sufficient funding to accelerate this essential capability to brigade and
division commanders. Full objective capabilities (i.e., range, fuel, payloads)
remain undetermined. Funding to replace the division airborne signals
intelligence collection platform has not been determined. Legacy ground
collection and processing systems are being consolidated in the Prophet Ground
and Distributed Common Ground System efforts. Both programs are sufficiently
funded to meet threshold requirements; however, full objective capability has
not yet been determined nor has the funding. CONCLUSION Our current
Transformation strategy is executable. To support our Transformation, the Army
has already made significant changes in its plans and resourcing. Approximately
$16 billion of programmed future spending between fiscal year 2001 and fiscal
year 2005 has already been shifted Internally to directly support Transformation
initiatives. The majority of Army Science and Technology is devoted to
developing the Objective Force. The support Congress provides in fiscal year
2001 to assist the Army's procurement of the Interim Combat Brigades Teams will
give the commanders in chief much needed capability to meet today's mission
requirement. The Army's greatest challenge is maintaining uncompromised combat
overmatch today while it transforms to the objective force tomorrow. The
modernization and recapitalization of our legacy force is essential to
maintaining combat overmatch and to honoring our non- negotiable contract with
the American people--to fight and win our nation's wars. Maintaining readiness
of the force while focusing on transforming to the Objective Force requires more
resources than the Army currently has available. This year, Congress has
supported the Army in undertaking a path of Transformation and revolutionary
change. Full funding of Operation and Maintenance Account is critical to
preclude further migration of procurement dollars into the readiness account.
Continue support is required to fully implement all parts of Transformation, and
preserve the Army's capability to fulfill its enduring commitment to the Nation.
Once again, I thank you for this opportunity to address the Army's procurement
requirements and concerns.
LOAD-DATE: October 20, 2000,
Friday 
