{"id":44048,"date":"2018-10-08T17:40:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T17:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/08\/armys-night-court-finds-25-billion-to-reinvest-in-modernization-priorities\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:16:24","slug":"armys-night-court-finds-25-billion-to-reinvest-in-modernization-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/10\/08\/armys-night-court-finds-25-billion-to-reinvest-in-modernization-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Army\u2019s \u2018night court\u2019 finds $25 billion to reinvest in modernization priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From the Army finding more money for acquisition priorities to an armored vehicle unveil, here’s your Day 1 recap of the 2018 AUSA Annual Meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Army has been holding what has been called \u201cnight court,\u201d full of \u201cdeep dives\u201d to assess how essential existing programs are to the service\u2019s radical modernization goals<\/a> since the earlier part of this year. And according to the service\u2019s secretary, it has found roughly $25 billion through the process to apply to its priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary Mark Esper, in a press briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual conference, would not speak to the details of what programs will bite the dust to cover the cost of emerging modernization efforts because they are evident in the service\u2019s proposed fiscal 2020 budget, which has yet to clear the Office of the Secretary of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he did say \u201cthat dollar figure is a low-end number over the [Future Years Defense Program] FYDP,\u201d adding: \u201cMost of the savings are principally found in the [equipping] peg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper, as well as Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and other top leadership, spent roughly 40 to 60 hours reviewing programs within the equipping peg since this spring as a part of a new effort to comb through every program and weigh them against modernization priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thinking goes that if programs or activities didn\u2019t fit in the top six modernization priorities the Army laid out a year ago, then the programs could go, freeing up dollars for the priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army announced last year at AUSA that it planned to stand up Army Futures Command<\/a>, a new four-star organization tasked to push forward efforts that will modernize the Army by 2028. There are six modernization priorities: Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the network, air and missile defense, and soldier lethality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more coverage from the AUSA annual meeting, click here.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army went \u201cprogram by program, activity by activity to look at each one and assess it and ask ourselves is this more important than a Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, is this more important than a squad automatic weapon, is this more important than Long-Range Precision Fires,\u201d Esper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to make those trade-offs, and it resulted in, again, reductions and cancellations and consolidations, so that is our intent as we continue to go through the other pegs,\u201d Esper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to be as judicious as we can with every dollar that has been disposed by Congress,\u201d Army Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy told Defense News in an interview ahead of AUSA. \u201cThis is a way for us to put the highest level of rigor and prioritization that you could give for the department against our priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army needs to be prepared for potential contraction of the Budget Control Act, McCarthy noted. \u201cWe will be ready for that no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t