Osprey purchases included in Marine Corps plan

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense leaders have gone forward with a proposal to buy nine more of the MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft program in fiscal 2004.

The helicopter-airplane hybrid, grounded for 17 months beginning in 2000 following training-related deaths, resumed test flights in May 2002.

By fiscal 2009, the Corps hopes to buy 117 of the Osprey for a total of $9.9 billion.

In spite of the favorable Osprey purchasing news for the Corps, a senior Naval budget official voiced a bit of disappointment over the one-year delay in the Corps’ plan to buy the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle, commonly called the AAAV.

What should have come into full force in fiscal 2007 has been delayed because military and civilian engineers need more time to continue testing the vehicle, the official said.

The vehicle is stealthier and has a better weapons system than the Amphibious Assault Vehicle, or AAV, that Marines now use. The Corps hopes to buy a few in fiscal 2005. By the end of a long-term budget planning cycle, which ends in fiscal 2009, the Corps hopes to buy 186 vehicles for a total price tag of $2.6 billion.

The much-anticipated AAAV, which looks like a small tank, can travel at a high spend on land and sea and has a unique combination of offensive firepower and nuclear, chemical and biological protection. It will come in two variants, the “P” for personnel and “C” for command.

The overall Navy and Marine Corps proposed budget is $114.6 billion, an increase of $3.5 billion over this year. The overall Defense Department budget being sent to Congress is nearly $380 billion for fiscal 2004, which begins Oct. 1.

The Pentagon’s proposed budget includes pay raises that range from 2 percent to 6.25 percent for military personnel, with the average coming out to roughly 4.1 percent, said a senior defense official. Those slated to get the higher boosts in pay are the midgrade and most experienced of troops.

For the Marine Corps, DOD officials hope to boost spending for personnel, with money for programs such as basic pay and benefits, special incentives, subsistence programs, and training and education going up from just more than $9 billion in fiscal 2003 to nearly $9.6 million the following budget year.

They also want nearly $1.8 billion for pay and benefits for the service’s officers, up from nearly $1.7 billion in fiscal 2003, and $6.4 billion for enlisted personnel, up from $6 billion.

The Corps will keep its projected end-strength of 175,000 active duty Marines, and has proposed a slight increase in the Reserve forces from 39,558 in fiscal 2003 to 39,600.

If approved, money earmarked for education benefits will increase by $1 million, going from $1.7 million to $2.7 million.

The overall proposed budget increase for Marine Corps Reserves increased from nearly $554 million to $587 million, up almost 6 percent.