Military spending for electronics and communications stable after steep decline
WASHINGTON, 7 March 2014. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) propose spending $10.67 billion in federal fiscal year 2015 for procurement and research in military communications, electronics, telecommunications, and intelligence (CET&I) technologies.
That level of $10.67 billion would represent a slight increase in the DOD budget from the $10.07 billion that Congress enacted for CET&I this year, and is down from the Pentagon's fiscal 2014 request of $11.62 billion. The Pentagon's CET&I allocation as recently as 2012 was $15.14 billion. The DOD's 2015 budget proposal was released this week.
The 2015 DOD request for CET&I procurement and research does not include military activities with substantial electronics content, such as aircraft avionics, vetronics, and missile guidance; when these are added, DOD spending levels for military electronics and defense electro-optics could approach $90 billion, industry analysts believe.
Experts estimate that total DOD electronics, information technology, and electro-optics spending is roughly 15 percent of the total DOD budget. Most of the DOD's technology spending is in the procurement, research, and development accounts.
Related: Pentagon plans to spend $6 billion on C4I next year to support radio networking to the edge
In fiscal 2015 Pentagon leaders propose spending $601 billion, which includes $495.6 billion in discretionary budget authority, $79 billion in overseas contingency operations, and $26.4 billion in a new Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative fund. Fiscal 2015 begins next October 1.
The DOD's CET&I budget request for next year includes $7.6 billion for procurement -- up 5 percent from this year's enacted level of $7.3 billion.
The DOD's total CET&I budget request also includes $3.04 billion for research and development, which is up nearly 11 percent from this year's enacted level of $2.8 billion.
The U.S. Army in 2015 is asking for $3.4 billion in CET&I procurement and research, which is down from this-year's enacted level of $3.6 billion, and down from this year's request of $4.5 billion.
Related: First look: fiscal 2015 DOD budget hits procurement and research hard
The Air Force next year is asking for $3.14 billion for CET&I procurement and research, which is up from this year's enacted level of $2.53 billion, and also up from this year's request of $2.93 billion.
For defense agencies next year, the Pentagon is asking for Congress for $445 million for CET&I activities, which is down from this year's enacted level of $484.5 billion, and down from this year's request of $507 million.
The Pentagon's proposed budget for 2015 now goes to Congress, where lawmakers are scheduled to craft a final military spending plan by next fall.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
