A top Pentagon official said lawmakers must “step up and deliver” on the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion funding request if the military is to replenish its stockpiles of key air defense interceptors and deep-strike weapons that have seen heavy use in the Iran war.
“We have the contracts in place, we have the acquisition reform in place,” Michael Duffey, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said Friday on Bloomberg Television's Balance of Power. “We need that funding to deliver for the warfighter.”
Duffey wouldn't speculate on the risk that Congress could decline to finance the Pentagon's priorities through a party-line budget maneuver known as reconciliation. Regardless of the funding mechanism employed, he said the full $1.5 trillion is crucial to achieving President Donald Trump's objectives.
“It will be incumbent on us to work with Congress over the next couple of months to ensure that we get that full funding for our program,” Duffey said.
He added that empowering the Pentagon to enter into seven-year production contracts with defense contractors has “incentivised industry to invest their own money” to increase production rates for key munitions.
Asked about the Defense Department's priorities, he said “we're focused on the critical munitions that are so essential for our competitive advantage and that are sought after worldwide — weapons like the Patriot, the Tomahawk, the Thaad interceptor, the Standard Missile.” The administration has announced framework agreements with prime contractors and suppliers of core components for high-end munitions as part of an effort to expand production dramatically in the coming years.
“These investments and these ramp rates will allow us to replenish much faster — expended munitions and also ensuring that we're building out capacity for the next generation,” Duffey said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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