B-21, Columbia-class among programs hit under longterm CR, military leaders warn

WASHINGTON — Increased production of munitions, initial fielding of the B-21 stealth bomber and Columbia-class submarine construction could all be jeopardized by a long-term continuing resolution in fiscal 2025, according to a parade of top Pentagon officials.

Congress has about a week to pass a stopgap funding bill by the end of Sept. 30, when FY24 ends and government money runs out. However, after the House rejected a plan by House Speaker Mike Johnson that would have provided federal agencies a bridge until March, House and Senate leaders are scrambling to hammer out a last minute deal.

Johnson’s continuing resolution was soundly rebuffed by Democrats, who objected to his addition of the right-leaning SAVE Act to the bill. It was also opposed by more than a dozen Republicans on fiscal grounds or due to concerns that a six-month CR could harm national defense.

On Thursday, The Hill reported that Johnson could release a new CR proposal as early as Sunday.

“The aim here is to be pretty minimal, as close to a clean CR as we can do,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole said, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday took procedural steps that would allow the upper chamber to advance its own version of a CR, despite the precedent that spending bills first move through the House.

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The Pentagon’s ability to execute its strategy — including its deterrence of China — hinges on getting the funds it needs for innovation and modernization, “which cannot happen under a CR,” wrote Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a Sept. 7 letter to Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

“Asking the Department to compete with the [People’s Republic of China], let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy CR, ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress,” he said. “We cannot buy back this time, but we can stop digging the hole.”

In particular, Austin warned that a six-month CR would leave Congress with little time before an April 30 deadline, when across-the-board sequestration cuts will go into effect unless lawmakers have passed full-year appropriations bills.

Austin’s letter to has since been followed by several others by defense leaders, urging Congress to keep a CR short and pass an annual defense appropriations bill as soon as possible. Here’s what officials are concerned about:

Army:

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth sent lawmakers a letter Wednesday warning that a six-month CR would have “significant consequences” on the service’s ability to “maintain national security” and the quality of life for soldiers and their families.

“The Army’s inability to start new programs or realign funds to match emerging needs would reduce our purchasing power and create meaningful costs as well as schedule risk to Army program,” Wormuth continued.

More specifically, she said that up to $8.2 billion in “critical investments” for recruiting, training and weapons development would be delayed, and a subsequent letter said that under a six-month CR, 13 new start procurement programs and three development increases would be delayed. A six-month CR would also impact two planned production rate increases and eight military construction projects

When it comes to air and missile defense, for example, that half-year CR would postpone a $403 million award for a Patriot intercept order, and delay development of the Integrated Battle Command System.

Plans to buy two new Company-Level Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems would be halted, while Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) production would be delayed because the service would not move ahead acquiring long-led items like solid rocket motors and guidance kits.

Air Force and Space Force:

For the Department of the Air Force, which encompasses both the Air Force and Space Force, Secretary Frank Kendall warned that a six-month CR would harm personnel. For example, Kendall said a CR would adversely affect basic pay, housing and other routine payments service members need. A prolonged budget impasse would additionally stall efforts to implement recommendations on sexual assault and suicide prevention and response from the Pentagon’s Independent Review Commission, as well as reduce aircraft mission capable rates and aircrew readiness, he added.

Modernization projects from both services would also be hampered, Kendall said. For the Air Force, that could mean “prevent[ing] production increases” of key munitions like the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) and the service’s new Stand-In Attack Weapon (SiAW).

Initial operational capability for the Air Force’s B-21 Raider would additionally be delayed, according to Kendall, and there would be impacts to other programs like the recapitalization of the nation’s nuclear ballistic missiles.

The Space Force would similarly see development of “launch and range test system software” halted, Kendall said. And if the CR dragged on for a year, the secretary said his “operational imperatives” would take a hit, such as efforts to shift tracking capabilities to space.

Other high-profile programs to field new space systems like modernized GPS and missile warning/missile tracking would also suffer setbacks, according to Kendall.

Navy and Marine Corps:

Writing for the Navy and Marine Corps, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said a prolonged CR could delay construction of Virginia-class attack submarines and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, as well as inhibit investments needed for the submarine industrial base. The Navy would also not be able to award a contract for a new medium landing ship.

A six-month CR would have “profound” impacts on the Marine Corps’ force design efforts, “slowing key acquisition programs,” Del Toro wrote. For instance, increased procurement of the CH-53K helicopter, amphibious combat vehicle and joint light tactical vehicle would be limited by a CR.

In her own letter, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti asserted a six-month CR “would cause profound, damaging impact” to the service and “impos[e] unnecessary hardship on our Sailors, civilians and their families,” including the elimination of most new bonus awards.

The CR could also impact maintenance of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and impede the service’s marquee hypersonic weapon program, she wrote.