House Appropriators Approve 14.8% Increase in FY03 DOD S&T Funding

Tomorrow the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the FY 2003 Defense Appropriations bill containing a proposed 14.8% increase in funding for science and technology programs within the Department of Defense. H.R. 5010 was written by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, under the leadership of Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Ranking Minority Member John P. Murtha (D-PA).

An indication of the priority that the subcommittee gave to the 6.1 (Basic Research), 6.2 (Applied Research), and 6.3 (Advanced Technology Development) programs is the share of the total $354.7 billion defense budget for these three programs. Many have called for 3% of the total budget to be devoted to these S&T programs. The bill appropriates 3.2%.

The Bush Administration had requested a cut of $193 million in S&T funding from the current year, a figure that was 2.7% of its total DOD request, or $9,999 million. The committee bill recommends an increase of $1,464 million to $11,341 million for the S&T budget.

The 3% S&T target was cited in last fall’s Quadrennial Defense Review Report. It stated: “A robust research and development effort is imperative to achieving the Department’s transformation objectives. DoD must maintain a strong science and technology (S&T) program that supports evolving military needs and ensures technological superiority over potential adversaries. To provide the basic research for these capabilities, the QDR calls for a significant increase in funding for S&T programs to a level of three percent of DoD spending per year.” The 3% target was advocated by the Coalition on National Security Research, to which AIP and several of its Member and Affiliated Societies belong.

Below are the percentage changes for the three S&T programs between the current year and the FY 2003 proposed budgets in H.R. 5010. Figures are provided in the aggregate, for the three branches and Defense-Wide programs. The “Defense- Wide"category is not total spending, but rather spending for DARPA, missile defense, other defense labs.

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would increase 3.2%
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would increase 8.9%
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would increase 23.9%
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 14.8%, from $9,877 million to $11,341 million

ARMY 6.1 funding would increase 1.3%
ARMY 6.2 funding would decline 2.5%
ARMY 6.3 funding would increase 20.5%
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 8.1%, from $2,051 million to $2,218 million

NAVY 6.1 funding would increase 0.7%
NAVY 6.2 funding would decline 5.5%
NAVY 6.3 funding would increase 0.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 1.6%, from $2,052 million to $2,019 million

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would remain unchanged
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would increase 9.1%
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would increase 35.7%
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 17.5% from $1,566 million to $1,840 million

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.1 funding would increase 7.4%
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would increase 22.1%
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would increase 31.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding would increase 25.1% from $4,208 million to $5,264 million