Fiscal Year 2014 Pentagon Budget Analysis

April 10, 2013 - Download PDF Version

By Christopher Hellman

Background

Today the Obama Administration released its fiscal year 2014 budget proposal. The administration is seeking a $526.6 billion budget for the Department of Defense, not including war funding or nuclear weapons activities at the Department of Energy. The administration did not specify funding for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2014. The Pentagon's request assumes that sequestration won't occur again in FY2014.

NOTE: All funding figures are in nominal dollars -- i.e. they are not adjusted for inflation.

 

Budget Highlights

Top Line Funding

The Obama Administration is requesting $526.6 billion for the Department of Defense in fiscal year 2014, which begins on Oct. 1, 2013. Adjusted for inflation, that's a 1.6 percent cut relative to FY2013 levels.

Funding for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)

The budget does not include a request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Office of Management and Budget, "final decisions about the pace of the drawdown in Afghanistan have not yet been made. As a result, the Budget includes a placeholder for DOD’s 2014 OCO funding, equivalent to the amount provided in the President’s 2013 Budget." The president's FY2013 budget request for OCO was $88.5 billion.

Base Closures

The Pentagon is requesting a new round of base closures in 2015. The last round of base closures occurred in 2005.

Missile Defense

The administration is requesting $9.2 billion for missile defense in FY2014, down roughly $500 million from current levels. This total does not include an additional $936 million for the SBIRS-High satellite.

Shipbuilding

The request includes $10.9 billion for new ship construction. The budget request includes funding for one DDG-51 destroyer, four Littoral Combat Ships, and two “Virginia” class submarines. It also provides $1.1 billion for development of the next generation ballistic missile submarine program to replace the current “Ohio” class submarine.

Aircraft

The request includes $1.9 billion for procurement of 21 V-22 “Osprey” tilt-rotor aircraft, and $8.4 billion for 29 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. It also includes $1.6 billion for the Air Force’s new KC-46 aerial re-fueling tanker program. It includes no funding for additional F-22 fighters, the C-17 transport or the Navy's F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet."

Military Personnel

The request includes a 1 percent increase in base pay. It would increase the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) on average by 4.2 percent and the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) by 3.4 percent. It includes full funding ($49.4 billion) for the Military Health System.

Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR)

The administration is requesting $528 million for the CTR (also known as “Nunn-Lugar”) program, $17 million above the current level. The CTR program assists Russia and the former Soviet republics safeguard weapons of mass destruction and related technologies.

Department of Energy Activities

The request includes $7.87 billion for the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy (a 4% increase of $311 million) and $2.14 billion for DoE’s nuclear nonproliferation work (a decrease of 7%, or $161 million) compared to current FY2012 levels. It also includes $5.317 billion for Defense Environmental Cleanup (up 6.3%, or $314 million). The request includes a total of $17.7 billion for the nuclear weapons-related activities of the Department of Energy (a 3.2% increase of $944 million).


Supporting Tables

Projected Pentagon Base Budget

In billions of nominal dollars

FY2013FY2014FY2015FY2016FY2017FY2018Total
$528 $527 $541 $551 $560 $569 $2,748
Note: Funding does not include war costs or the nuclear weapons activities at the Department of Energy

Funding by Military Service

In billions of nominal dollars

Military ServiceFY2013 RequestFY2013 Enacted w/ SequesterFY2014 RequestDollar Change FY2013/2014 RequestPercentage Change FY2013/FY2014 Request
Army $134.6 $125.2 $129.7 -$4.9 -3.6%
Navy $155.9 $148.9 $155.8 -$0.1 -0.1%
Air Force $140.0 $130.1 $144.4 $4.4 3.1%
Defense-Wide $94.9 $88.7 $96.7 $1.8 1.9%
Total $525.4 $492.9 $526.6    
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding

Funding by Title

In billions of nominal dollars

TitleFY2013 RequestFY2013 Enacted w/ SequesterFY2014 RequestDollar Change FY2013/2014 RequestPercentage Change FY2013/FY2014 Request
Military Personnel $135.1 $135.4 $137.1 $2.0 1.5%
Operation and Maintenance $208.8 $194.0 $209.4 $0.6 0.3%
Procurement $98.8 $89.3 $99.3 $0.5 0.5%
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation $69.4 $63.4 $67.5 -$1.9 -2.7%
Military Construction $9.6 $7.4 $9.5 -$0.1 -1%
Family Housing $1.7 $1.4 $1.5 -$0.2 -11.8%
Revolving Funds $2.1 $2.0 $2.3 $0.2 -9.5%
Total $525.4 $492.9 $526.6    
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding

Program and Per Unit Costs of Selected Weapons Programs

In millions of nominal dollars

 FY2014 RequestQuantityPer Unit CostTotal Program Cost
Aircraft        
F-22A Fighter $746 0 $352.86 $66,337
F-35 Fighter (JSF) $8,445 29 $154.41 $379,393
E/A-18G Jamming Aircraft $2,013 21 $98.29 $11,205
C-130J Cargo Aircraft $2,078 18 $89.15 $14,978
KC-46 Airborne Tanker Aircraft $1,559 0 N/A N/A
V-22 Osprey Aircraft $1,867 21 $116.07 $53,275
UH-60M “Blackhawk” Helicopter $1,260 65 $19.88 $27,341
MH-60R “Seahawk” Helicopter $849 19 $48.00 $14,400
MH-60S “Knighthawk” Helicopter $455 18 $28.89 $7,944
UH-72A “Lakota” Light Utility Helicopter $96 10 $5.82 $2,007
Shipbuilding        
Aircraft Carrier CVN-78 Class $1,680 0 $13,431.77 $40,295
DDG-51 "Arleigh Burke" Destroyer $2,004 1 $1,178.89 $88,417
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) $2,390 4 $680.71 $37,439
SSN-774 “Virginia” Attack Submarine $5,418 2 $3,102.97 $93,089
Missiles/Munitions        
Trident II D-5 Missile $1,463 0 $72.43 $40,633
Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missile $325 196 $1.45 $6,874
Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) $191 6,965 $0.03 $5,857
Joint Stand-off Weapon (JSOW) $138 328 $0.51 $5,313
Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) $298 183 $1.60 $8,038
Small Diameter Bomb (SDB II) $211 100 $0.30 $5,207
Unmanned Systems        
Predator UAV (MQ-1B) $663 15 N/A N/A
Reaper UAV (MQ-9) $507 12 $31.32 $12,497
Global Hawk UAV (RQ-4A/B) $894 2 $211.13 $13,935
Note: “Per Unit Costs” include both procurement and research & development funding, unless otherwise noted.

FY2014 Funding Request For Ballistic Missile Defense

In millions of nominal dollars

ProgramFY2013 RequestFY2014 Request
Ballistic Missile Defense $9,700 $9,200
Selected Functions    
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense $903 $1,034
AEGIS BMD $1,382 $1,518
THAAD $778 $850
Patriot/PAC-3 $963 $337
PAC-3/MSE Missile $82 $609
Other    
Space Based Infra-Red System-High (SBIRS-High) $903 $936