2014 Pentagon budget would cut procurement and research accounts by 11.3 percent

WASHINGTON, 11 April 2013. The proposed U.S. Department of Defense budget for fiscal year 2013 would cut military procurement and research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) spending by 11.3 percent over this year's request, according to budget documents released Wednesday.

The military procurement and RDT&E accounts hold the vast majority of money the Pentagon has earmarked for military electronics and electro-optics. Now the proposed Pentagon budget goes to Congress, where its approval is expected sometime next fall.

Next year the Pentagon proposes to spend $166.8 billion on procurement and RDT&E, which is down 11.3 percent from this year's request of $188.1 billion. The 2014 DOD budget request does not give this year's actual spending levels approved by Congress, as past budgets have done.

Of all the military services, the U.S. Army takes the hardest hit in the 2014 Pentagon budget proposal. The budget calls for the Army to spend $23.95 billion in procurement and research next year, which is down 24.5 percent from this year's request of $31.7 billion.

The Navy and Marine Corps 2014 budget has $59.34 billion for procurement and RDT&E, which is down 6.4 percent from this year's request of $63.37 billion. The Air Force, meanwhile, has a 2014 budget of $59.97 billion for procurement and RDT&E, which is down 10 percent from this year's request of $66.58 billion.

Service-independent Pentagon agencies in 2014 are asking for $17.67 billion in procurement and RDT&E, which is down 32.7 percent from this year's request of $26.26 billion. These accounts include groups like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO).