Pentagon Seeks $900m Funding Shift From Ships to Border Wall (1)
(Adds link to request and final bullet on Humvee modernization) Pentagon is seeking to transfer $3.8b mostly from weapons systems into the counter-drug account which the Trump administration has used to build the border wall, according to the request sent to Congress and obtained by Bloomberg Government.
- The request is split between regular budget and overseas contingency operations account
- Shipbuilding would lose $900m: $650m from a program to replace amphibious assault ship, LHA; and $261m from the Expeditionary Fast Transport program
- $223m would come out of the Navy’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program under contract to Lockheed Martin
- $155m would come out of the V-22 Osprey program, made by Boeing Co. and Textron Inc.
- $180m would come out of Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft program
- The Air Force would lose $150m from F-35 advanced procurement funds and $196m from Lockheed’s C-130J transport aircraft
- The Light Attack Aircraft program would give up $180m; the Pentagon said it was a “congressional interest item”
- From OCO: $169m would come out of the CH-130J and $160m from the MQ-9 drone program made by General Atomics
- Pentagon also looking to shift $100m from National Guard Humvee modernization