Army FY 2021 Budget and IT Budget Request Snapshot

The White House released its fiscal 2021 budget request in early February, with the Department of the Army ’s portion of the request being the third largest total and IT budgets among the four Department of Defense (DOD) components.

The new budget focuses increased resources on areas of critical need for the Army, including base operations, force readiness, weapons system modernization, and personnel training. If passed intact by Congress and signed into law, the fiscal 2021 budget will deliver somewhat lower funding than the $178.4B enacted in fiscal 2020.

Funding Priorities

The proposed fiscal year 2021 budget provides $177.9B in total budget authority for the Army, 0.28% less than funds finally enacted for FY 2020 in December 2019.

Army Discretionary Funding Highlights (Base + OCO + Emergency)

O&M: $73B, an increase of $4B vs. FY 2020. The budget increases funding for base operations, force readiness, and training exercises.

RDT&E: $12.8B, an increase of $300M vs. FY 2020. In particular, it prioritizes funding for Army Hypersonics ($801M vs. $404M enacted in FY 2020) and Aviation Advanced Development ($648M vs. $506M enacted in FY 2020).

Procurement: $25.9B, a decrease of $500M vs. FY 2020. Prioritizes significant new investments in Night Vision Devices ($1.1B vs. $85M enacted in FY 2020) and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles ($894M vs. $0 enacted in FY 2020).

Army’s FY 2021 IT Budget Request

With DOD continuing to limit visibility into its IT budget, the public can see only a portion of Army’s planned IT investments that are related to unclassified national security systems. The net result for FY 2021 is that the Army is requesting $3.86B for IT programs.

The Army’s FY 2021 IT budget request of $3.86B is approximately $280M higher than the $3.58B that the Army received in FY 2020. Versus the FY 2019, meanwhile, the FY 2021 request is up $530M.

In terms of the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME) splits, Army’s FY 2021 request for IT O&M funding came in at $2.8B, which is an increase of $200M vs. FY 2020. For DME in FY 2021 the request is $1.1, an increase of $85M vs. FY 2020.

FY 2021 Funding Priorities

Here are ten priority programs, including all-important DME dollars (often thought of as “new” money each fiscal year):

• Global Combat Support System-Army ($297M, $100M DME)
• Information Management-Automation Support ($205M, $0 DME)
• High Performance Computing Modernization Program ($193M, $188 DME)
• General Fund Enterprise Business System ($174M, $18M DME)
• Nett Warrior (Ground Soldier System) ($160M, $160M DME)
• Commercial Satellite Air Time ($122M, $0 DME)
• Logistics Support Systems ($116M, $0 DME)
• Support for Special Purpose Networks ($113M, $0 DME)
• Tactical Server Infrastructure ($95M, $95M DME)
• Personnel Automation Systems ($68M, $68M DME)
• Command Post Integrated Infrastructure ($58M, $58M DME)