The Department of Defense’s 2013 fiscal year budget request maintains science and technology spending in accordance with President Obama’s strategic guidance for a smaller, leaner, more flexible and agile military, DOD said.
Zachary Lemnios, assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, told the Senate Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee, said the department fiscal 2013 request of $11.9 billion, down from $12.2 billion this year, maintains $2.1 billion for basic research; $2.8 billion to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop strategic concepts; $1 billion for countering weapons of mass destruction; and maintains science and technology funding in each of the military departments at about $2 billion.
The budget request adds $700 million to enhance the services’ ability to operate jointly across all domains, Lemnios said. The funding would initiate an Air Force hypersonic cruise missile capability demonstration, accelerate the development of advanced electronic warfare concepts, accelerate technology development for the long range anti-ship missile program, and launch technology development efforts in anti-jam precision-guided munitions, he said.
“I can assure this committee that we are all mindful of the budget pressures facing our nation,” Lemnios said. “We have made a collective commitment to ensure that the taxpayers’ dollars provided to the department’s [science and technology] enterprise are invested wisely with a laser-like focus on needed capabilities for our national security.”
Adjustments were made to increase funding in the priority areas of cyber, electronic warfare, robotics and advanced manufacturing by realigning funding in lower-priority areas, Lemnios said. The request also would increase investments in a next-generation, high-efficiency turbine engine, the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology, he said.
