According to the 2006 defense budget proposal, the Marine Corps will cut the purchase of its V-22 tilt-rotor Osprey next year from 15 to nine. (Vernon Pugh / U.S. Navy)
ARLINGTON, Va. — Marines will soon find themselves manning two new infantry battalions, three Light Armored Reconnaissance Companies and several new support units being added to the active forces.
But the service will have to wait longer for the fielding of the new V-22 tilt-rotor Osprey and amphibious Expeditionary Assault Vehicle, according to the Defense Department’s 2006 budget request.
In all, the White House hopes to put $17.5 billion into the corps coffers next year.
The proposal calls for increasing Marines’ base pay by 3.1 percent and civilian salaries by 2.3 percent.
Manpower for the new units will come from job conversions that put civilians into positions that some 2,500 Marines had been filling, according to a senior Pentagon official who briefed reporters Friday.
Meanwhile, an additional 3,000 Marines will be temporarily added to the Corps’ active strength of 175,000 in a separate “supplemental” budget request expected to go to Congress later this month. Cash for new bonus money is also expected to be part of the Corps’ portion of the supplemental.
The Corps is projecting it will buy 1,310 new Humvees and 77 of its 155 mm Howitzers as part of its $1.4 billion procurement budget proposal for 2006.
The Marines will cut the purchase of the still-developmental V-22 tilt-rotor “Osprey” next year from 15 to nine. In 2007, purchases will be cut in half from 29 to 14. In all, over the next four years, plans now call for the Corps to buy a total of 72 Ospreys instead of the 107 that had been planned.
The Expeditionary Assault Vehicle, slated to begin replacing the Corps’ aging fleet amphibious armored vehicles this year, now won’t begin hitting units until 2007, according to service officials.
