SIMI VALLEY, Calif. \u2014 Pentagon leaders warned Congress that without a full-year budget, key programs, from uncrewed aircraft to hypersonics, could hit lengthy delays \u2014 and risk America\u2019s standing in what the Defense Department sees as a technological race with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot waste time,\u201d said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in a panel discussion at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the last two years, the Air Force has introduced a set of goals meant to outcompete China\u2019s military \u2014 among them systems like the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, uncrewed planes meant to fight alongside F-35s later this decade. The CCA itself is an important platform, Kendall said, but more important is the larger goal it represents: finding faster and cheaper systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe loss of time just from when we started this concept, when we came up with the idea to today, is two years,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get a \u201824 budget, we may lose another year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sitting next to Kendall on the panel, Heidi Shyu, head of research and engineering in the Pentagon, said the inconsistent funding has slowed the testing of hypersonics, another key technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defense Department\u2019s Test Resource Management Center requested more funding for these efforts in FY24, but it can\u2019t move forward without an appropriation. Shyu said her office will send Congress later this month a list of systems \u2014 with state-level data \u2014 of systems in her portfolio that would be affected by a yearlong continuing resolution, or CR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChina spends an enormous amount of money on test assets,\u201d Shyu told reporters. \u201cThis is where we have [a] shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. government has been funded through CRs for the past two months, after a last-minute deal in Congress. These bills freeze spending at last year\u2019s levels and halt new starts and new money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current short-term bill has a staggered expiration date, ending in mid-January and early February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the government so often fails to pass funding bills on time, the Pentagon plans its budget knowing it may not be able to start new contracts in the first quarter. For that reason, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told Defense News, the effects of these last two CRs have been limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That changes if there isn\u2019t a spending deal by January or beyond, he said. In that case, Bush added, much of the Army\u2019s plans for next year will be delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have dozens of programs that are hitting important new milestones in FY24 in the areas of air defense, long-range strike, intel systems, TITAN,\u201d Bush said, referring to the Army\u2019s new targeting system planned for later this decade. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a wide range of things that are right in the middle of either finishing development or going into production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the urgency is part of a bill passed earlier this year to raise the debt ceiling: If all 12 of Congress\u2019 appropriations bills aren\u2019t passed before January, there will be a 1% cut in all government spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That provision has made it much harder for Pentagon employees to plan for future spending levels, said the Defense Department\u2019s top acquisition official, Bill LaPlante.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we told everybody as they were building their budget [was] … remember, this is not like previous years,\u201d LaPlante said in a gaggle with reporters. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be some hard choices.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defense officials said that the harm from short-term funding bills would worsen without an appropriation by the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":112512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":6,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[65,38,60,106,12,31,15,33,9,6,37,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3249,3307],"class_list":["post-33726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget","category-congress","category-contracting","category-daily-brief","category-govcon","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight","category-acquisition","category-regulations","category-regulations-govcon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Y7G3NPNBUZDNBNQCUM6XCFJEQE","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2023\/12\/04\/pentagon-warns-of-program-delays-and-testing-woes-without-a-new-budget\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n