that's true of all human groups. it's not racist. it's just true and harmless. >> and monday at 4:30 p.m. eastern, former president george w. bush on his book portraits of courage. >> the first guy paint was major chris cohen and i was sitting next to him at a dinner and i why are you here? he said because i can't get out of my mind seeing a buddy of mine killed. and i paint from pictures, and/or photos, and as i am painting turner, i am seeing what that must be like in his might. >> for more on this weekend schedule go to booktv.org. >> the army budget director major general thomas for lander briefed reporters at the pentagon yesterday about president trump's proposed budget for the army. this is about 45 minutes.

>> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. major general will spend the next few minutes -- [inaudible] watch is complete he will take questions and you'll be moderating this discussion. please limit it to one question or one follow-up. that allows anybody an opportunity to try to get questions. so without further ado, general horlander. >> so good afternoon. great to be back in again and see some family faces here and i really appreciated the opportunity to present to the overview of the armies 2018 budget request. more importantly i will tell you i and even more so pleased to be able to continue to serve our great country in uniform as an army soldier. so there's always something that

inspires me. i'll take a few minutes here and, in the process of provide an overview of what the army is doing today. i will sketch out the current operating environment, where our physical posture has look like over the last five to six years and have this request supports the administration and the army leadership priorities, then of course all spend some time providing a by appropriation reviewed some of the details at the armies request. america's army is increasingly more and more active in worldwide operations across the globe. with authority that the card pictorial on the slide before you not only represents some of the current operations where army forces are heavily engaged but it should remind us all of the velocity of instability across the road and have the same pictorial continue to change in the years to come. this observation alone makes it increasingly clear that the ability to simultaneous conduct

decisive action, major combat operations while maintaining our counterinsurgency competencies for the current fight or present the most demanding challenge that the army faces. properly resourced and trained, and ready army can perform successfully across this full spectrum operations but it must also continue to advance its capacity and capabilities for tomorrow's complex. today ground force remained the most globally committed u.s. military force with more than 100 80,000 u.s. army soldiers from the active component, the national guard and reserve committed to combatant command missions in over 140 countries worldwide. america soldier struck to contribute to our nation's efforts to defeat isis, support governance in afghanistan and to do to accomplish threat europe, and the middle east. this data demand for trained and ready army units provides our nation with the billy to defeat adversaries, assure our allies

and deter potential aggressive while this depicts current operations were america's army is engaged, the next fight could represent an existential strategic challenge those by peer powers. some with nuclear capabilities, advanced technologies and large a more sophisticated militaries. while it is difficult to define with precision the character of future warfare, it's broad outlines can be anticipated. we should plan on all domains of warfare being contested. a technologically sophisticated and numerically superior enemy that initially possesses positional advantage. these anticipated attributes of future warfare demand continued investment not only current competencies of the army's future capacity and capabilities in order to protect america's national security interest both today and tomorrow. inducting current operations consisting current readiness and

making progress towards a more modern capable and lethal future army will require predictable, consistent funding year-to-year. the army's fy '18 request take simple steps to improve readiness in close vulnerable to get for supporting the groundwork for future force ready to face the changing threats of tomorrow. it's about to start by looking at the army's budget over time. and providing a little commentary that may inform your views of the army's current funding requested as you can secluded from the truck the army's ace budget has been on the decline since 2012 -- base that you want inflation during the same time. as avidly one and 2.5%. the 2017 defense appropriation act at the fy '18 request represents an upturn in the army's suppress toppling funny sense of the mentation of the budget control act and starts to ouarrest the army's reduce decle

that fits the condition for approving the current and future readiness of the force. the basic budget represented on this chart and as you know is meant to man train and equip the nations army has been severely impacted by the budget control act as this optic to fix therefore joined the army has been able to maintain some court were fighting readiness with the flexibly provided through two bipartisan budget agreements in the oco funding provided by our government. the market decrease in our basement level over the past few years had forced the army to more good long-term investment for the benefit for near-term readiness. likewise in oco not fully represent on this chart its large contingency operations have become smaller, the army's oco budget has been reduced consistent with requirements atf the contingency operations where supporting. as is clear portrayed on this chart the funding levels of the recently enacted 17 budget and

this 18 days request are consistent with the administrations goals the u.s. army to rebuild readiness, reverse in strength reductions and prepare for future challenges. with this fy '18 presidents budget submission the following are some of the main highlights of our request. first and foremost the budget has been formulated to provide the combatant commands with the best trained and ready land forces we can generate. to do that we must fully find the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency competencies necessary for the current fight while also building decisive action capabilities for potential major combat operations consistent with the threats that some near peer nationstates may pose. that requires the army to increase its global responsiveness capabilities and support regional engagements and partnership activities with our allies to the budget request for the sustained a force of

1 million and 18,000 soldiers across the total army with reenlisted and specialized training in the best maintained equipment we can provide. we are able to focus some of our resources on the army's installations and infrastructure needs to better support the operations and training of the force. with this but you able to sustain the army's modernization programs and investment programs to advance soldier and technological overmatch capabilities. we do all this while seeking to achieve the highest levels of accountability and stewardship to maximize the purchasing power of the army's budget. this budget and those that follow should provide army necessary resources to conduct current operations, improve current readiness and make progress towards a more modern, capable and lethal future army. provided predictable and consistent fun is available in a timely manner and that a funny level commensurate with current and future demands on the force. the topical discussion that

follows highlights both the priorities we used to format the budget and the components of this 2010 budget request to cheat senior leader priorities and objectives to achieve the u.s. armies ultimate goal of remaining the best lead, equipped and most ready ground force in the world. the army's based budget request is $137.2 billion, an increase of almost dollars, an increase of almost $7 billion over the fy '17 enacted amount. for the base. as you should observe with a margin of growth that are notable increases in military pay. a win-win for operations and maintenance, and infrastructure to support the larger in strength. this slide represents funding requirements for all three components of the army. the regular army, the national guard and army reserve. and there's a breakout across the major defense appropriations. wwe'll talk about each appropriation in more detail in such slides. however, i take this opportunity to point out at the aggregate

level where much of the growth is represented. the 2017 national defense authorization act reversed a previously planned in the strength decline and authorize a total army and a strength of 1,002,000 soldiers. a much appreciated start to ensuring the army has fully manned formations. the increase in this fy '18 request goes to covering the readiness requirements of that growth both military pay and funding for training the force. additionally i know is able to leverage the growth to address recurring readiness shortfalls primary and her own in the funded operation in your training and infrastructure. only a small portion of the growth remain to apply to our future modernization accounts. i will walk you through the details in subsequent discussions. so i will start with our mail count because i provide you a clear picture of army in strength levels and how to

remain stable from 17 as a language requirement reversibly continue to increase the demand on the land force of carbon. many of you are aware that use army into strength has declined markedly in recent years. the army corp accordingly had rd its fourth structure -- for stricter void build a hollow army. with the recent authorized increase to the 1 million, 80,000 of the arm has been able to increase personal readiness, fill some holes in his formation and soar some of the necessary force structure changes. the fy '18 budget request maintains this increased into strength. the army will achieve this increase to elicit an officer a session and retake the funding association with this efforts is represented in the following slide. military personal appropriation accounts for the largest portion of the army space budget. our request funds a -- over 1 million soldiers and covers

pay, allowances recruiting retention an incentives, permit change station moves and mandates are some training in the reserve components. given our initial end strength ramp in fy '17 and subsequent reversal and full sustainment in 18 of the 1,000,018 forceful because you request is a fall $2.8 billion higher than the fy '17 enacted amount. the army's increase in strength and the rate increases and our soldiers basic pay cut housing allowance and subsistence account for this growth. i won a transition to the army's operations and maintenance appropriations. as i mentioned this is one area where we are requesting growth on the current years budget. starting with the regular army, the 2010 budget request totals $38.9 billion and seeks to resource a more balanced readiness across the force. this readiness is more than

being prepared for a current day contingency operations but includes readiness for decisive action missions with the capability to conduct a major combat operations. this spectrum of readiness is reflected in the army's 19 combat training center rotations for which we are seeking funding. these rotations are focused on decisive action training for both regular army and reserve components. the army's request provides for critical funding for engagement activities with our allies and strategic partners for training missions such as pacific pathways which some of your family with. this request will cover the sustainment of the army's equipment and represents a small increase in maintenance to help bring our equipment to a greater level of repair and by enhancing army pre-positio pre-position sf improve global response capabilities. this request supports base operations support requirements on the army's 74 major

installations. funding it at the 98%, at 98% of the critical requirement. fortunately we were also able to increase facilities sustainment funding from 67% of the critical requirement of last year to 75% for this year. these funding levels are consistent across all three army components. while represent an improvement over recent years we still assume risk across our installations. as a large amount of backlog maintenance still exists across the force. the army's 2010 budget request supports $10.2 billion owing a requirement for the army national guard and the u.s. army reserve. for the army national guard it's 2018 request is also not only higher than 2017 funding level, consistent consistent with the

regular army it seeks to restore readiness and base operations support as well as provide funding to continue supporting families and soldier programs to promote the well-being of the army's most viable asset, our people. for the use army reserve there are $2.9 billion o&m budget request support 77 functional brigades. it's three installations over 840 reserve centers and the professional education and specialized skills tranfourteen 199,000 soldiers. having spent a few minutes discussing army neutral readiness and manning the force, let's now transition to army modernization. the army's fy '18 research, development and acquisition budget request of $26.8 billion present an increase of $600 million from the fy '17 enacted level. that and enact a level that includes a pretty sizable uptick

because of the amendment that was recently included and the fy '17 appropriation act. however i would say the majority of this increase is more so in research development testing and evaluation candidates in the procurement accounts as you will see. this budget request represents modernization priorities that we must pursue in order to advance material solutions that enable the army to retain our advantage against advanced adversaries and to address a broader range of potential threats. this request prioritizes requirements necessary to deter, and if required, defeat near peer adversaries. the army is accepting risk in developing of new capabilities in order to prioritize enfamil upgrades of our ground and air systems so that we can put in the hands of our soldiers in the near term a greater and more lethal capability.

in the upper right-hand quadrant of the chart you will see a list of the army's top ten modernization priorities. i'm going to break a script here. this important list that as i go through the remainder of this briefing you will see me kind of go in order here ace upon these top ten priorities but these are really important. as you try to understand how we made some choices across our modernization portfolios. these were developed as result of the strategic portfolio analysis review process to prioritize limited modernization funding in order to balance near-term readiness requirements against long-term force development. we call this thus far, spar process allows army leaders to review and address are most critical capability gaps or to make informed decision within existing resources. in the next two charts i will highlight how our budget request supports these priorities. the lower right pie chart shows

the army 11 largest of the portfolios. what i ask you to take away from this is that the army requires a broad comprehensive set of modernization efforts in order to successfully execute the diverse missions the combat commanders require. so let me transition to the procurement portion of our research, development and acquisition or our modernization portfolios. our fy '18 request of 17.4 billion is consistent with what we saw in 18 come if not just slightly below that, or 17 come excuse. as mentioned in the previous slide, and this budget request the army has focused its modernization efforts within the ten priorities areas. these priorities will ensure we allocate resource to -- weapon systems, munitions and other critical equipment are units require for a near peer fight. i want to highlight, i will now

provide highlights for these ten priorities starting with an air and missile defense, the air missile defense represent the army's most urgent and pressing capability needs. given the possibility of confronting a force at substantial access and aerial denial capability the army need to advance its short range air defense and long-range buyers capabilities. this budget request includes funding for several critical air and missile defense systems to include the procurement and installation of 131 patriot modification kits and investment in the avenger surface to air missile system supports an interim modernization plan. in the area of long-range fires who improve our ability to respond effectively to surface to surface fires for artillery and missiles, this budget request includes funding for three of the army's most critical fire systems. the service life extension of

121 expired missiles adding another ten years of service life to them, the procurement of 6000 guided multiple launch rocket system, and the continued low rate initial production of 93 patriot missile segment enhancements. the budget accounts for both the army's operational and training munitions requirements, consistent with the efforts to increase our inventory of munitions in 2017, the 2018 request will help ensure the availability of critical munitions for the combatant commands. three areas to highlight include the increased production of over 80,000 unguided rockets, 48, 480 rounds of war reserve inventory replenishment for the excalibur, and the modernization of ammunition and actual facilities to improve munition production, place depleted stocks and great capacity for increase future demand. for example, the army is

pursuing a multi-your effort to improve the army nation -- ammunition plant in tennessee. in the area of mobility, lethality of protection of our maneuver formations the army has dealt a combat vehicle modernization strategy. for the abrams, stryker, bradley, armored multipurpose vehicle and the howitzer fleets. this includes upgrades to both the breadth and abrams platforms and procurement of 42 low rate initial production amphib. additionally, the request procures full reproduction of 59 -- that self-propelled howitzer and the track ammunition -- for the abrams tank for installation on vehicles within our armored brigade combat team in europe. on today's battlefield the army requires a great ability to conduct electronic warfare.

against this near peer adversary it requires an electronic warfare capability at the brigade level and below. the army's needs for ew are primarily funded. however this request is include some of the procurement funding to support the integration of the profit system on stryker and him rap vehicles. the army is committed to eliminating network infrastructure capability gaps within the next 24 months and will procure a new system when possible to support network modernization. these include the joint battle command platforms and the tactical network which label more secure medications from company to core level. the budget request sustains the portfolio to address near-term threats and approve overall aircraft survivability by procuring a 64, 60 and 47 aircraft. for the 86 for echo apache this request procures 13 new builds

and it funds, provides a desperate term and full rate production of 48 new manned aircraft, excuse me. the in modelblack hawk but it will procure 48 remit aircraft and the request for the chinook funding will procure new builds. let me transition to research development testing and evaluation appropriation for the army is requesting $9.4 billion request and as you can see, that's about $1 million above what was enacted in fy '17. this enables the army to prioritize the incremental upgrade of existing systems over a new starts so we can put technologically advanced equipment and more lethal weaponry in the hands of soldiers sundar. the fy '18 request includes $2.4 billion for science and technology funding, for weapons

and munitions advanced technology which we will demonstrate a mobile high energy laser system to defeat multiple threats at the tactical range. you will find advances and combat vehicle and automotive technology which will form the next generation of combat platforms and it funds the aviation advanced technology efforts which will provide transformation capabilities for future. turning towards engineering,, manufacturing development efforts, here's some important focus is in the top ten priorities that we described. in the area of integrated air and missile defense, get our number one priority for air and missile defense for the tactical forces and contested environment. we are investing in stinger product improvement program, the patriot product improvement program to continue software improvements, and the ongoing risk reduction test limited at

upgrades to existing assets to support development of testing in new mexico. to advance the army's long-range fires capability when investing funds to increase the range, falling of fire and decisions and kinds of our cannon and missile systems and to further enable precision fires in the gts denied a private. this includes the next generation, and low drag hyper velocity projectile capable multiple missions across different artillery systems. it includes improvement program that focuses on safety, cost reductions, reliability, efficiency -- deficiency correction, a new and improved capability. to improve mobility they found the protection of vehicles and weapons systems we are pursuing cost-effective replacement of obsolete vehicles and

improvements of prudent platforms. these lady efforts in this area are prototyping system-level testing of the amphib, a, a third-generation forward-looking infrared and ammunition datalink for advanced multiple purpose rants are both the abrams tank and the bradley fighting vehicle. our commercial military global positioning systems are susceptible to jamming and spoofing. the army requires both standalone and embedded capabilities to combat this threat. and the assured positioning navigation and timing can provide these capabilities. in the area of electronic warfare i covered praises roy spoke about the procurement portion of our portfolio, but in the area of electronic warfare and in response to use army, europe's operational needs will provide planning capabilities to coordinate, manage and

deconflict the use of electronic, electromagnetic spectrum and synchronized spectrum operations. the newly established rapid capabilities office is working with program managers and other stakeholders to rapidly deliver an integrated electronic warfare capability to the tactical force and accelerate the development of the capabilities as well to enable ground maneuver in a gps denied environment. defensive cyber operations enables global, regional and local cyberspace defenders to conduct mission planning and protection measures in the area cyber are -- sitter on the persistent cyber training environment program that supports cyber training ranges for both initial and unit level training proficiency and certification. in this final priority category, a vertical lift, where continuing to improve the turbine engine program, the

chinook product improvement program come and the apache product improvement program back into the the development of the 86 for echo conversion. this chart list programs value greater than $200 million to represent the army's major investments in the top ten modernization priorities with the requested pretreatment qualities for each. i will leave that for your study, but just wanted to give you an appreciation for some of the procurement quantities here. so let me transition to our facilities at one of the key, one of the keys to reduce its installation readiness and invest in the army's infrastructure. i discussed previously during the o&m portion of this breaking the army's investment in the restoration of modernization of its existing facilities. the army's milcon on your construction continues to be funded at a comparatively low level of the markedly more than

last year. as you can see there is growth in the fy '18 level compared to fy '16 and 17 it is still one of the smallest milcon budgets in recent years as the army will fund 37 construction projects totaling $1.2 billion with this request. in the army foun, housing accout which totals 529 million, there is some growth primarily to support an additional six projects totaling $183 million at various locations. and lastly the army's fy '18 brac funded support of our mental cleanup, restoration and conveyance of excess properties at previous brac locations. within the army's budget request there are several requirements that are managed and funded separately outside the main appropriations issues aggressively, $71 million for the arlington national cemetery. this goes to fund into day-to-day operations and the 29 rasterization objects for the

arlington nationalization -- restoration. 962 maidan for the congressionally mandated chemical demilitarization program. fy '18 finds support the continued plan operations and both pueblo, colorado, and bluegrass kentucky. as media where the army has been managing large overseas contingency operation budgets since 2001. this has this has been an account that has ebbed and flowed as contingency operations have expanded and contracted over time. the army's 2018 oco budget request represents requirements and military personnel, operations and maintenance and research development and acquisition. this years multi component request totals $28.9 billion. the 2018 oco request supports operations, operations spartan shield, operation inherent result in iraq, european

reassurance initiative in europe, and, of course, it also includes $4.9 billion for the afghan security force fund, 1.8 million darfur the counter isil train and equip requirements. this is this is a fund that nows both the iraq and the syria train and equip find. the 2.9 billion portion of this request primarily supports mobilized reserve component soldiers and maintains the current in strength levels in afghanistan and iraq pics i know there is some discussion in the previous. right now this request just comes what is currently authorizing we have there in theater. the operations and maintenance portion represents almost two-thirds of the army's oco request and supports theater operations and support, transportation, force protection, support contracts,

mobilization requirements and resetting and equipment returning from theater. any small portion of the request and our procurement accounts is for replacement of battle losses, ammunition consumption and pre-position stocks in europe. so in support of eri. so i'd like to take a moment because eri become such a pretty sizable portion of the oco request so i provide you a pictorial there but this 18 18 request represents about $3.2 billion to continue investing in the european initiative. of course demonstrating the high states resolve a commitment to the territorial integrity of the 2018 -- 28 nato members. the request increases army present in europe by rotating a full armor brigade combat team, a combat brigade minus and initial mission command element, at its key supporting enablers. additionally the army is enhancing european posture by continuing a position and

equipping efforts that were started in fy '17 to eventually achieve an end state of -- at the headquarters and key enabler equipment sets. these prepositioned equipment sets increase of the army strategic mobility and reduce u.s. response time in the event of the contingency operation of. the army is also resourcing additional european training exercises and then asserting his capabilities to deploy combat power to europe on short notice, and seamless integration operational capabilities with our nato partners. as you can see from this request, the budget addresses a vast complexity of requirements needed to restore and rebuild america's army for today and tomorrow's missions. it represents a balance between the size of the force, the current readiness requirements and the necessary investment and modernization to ensure our army remains their premier ground force of the future capable of protecting the nationals he

could interests of country. ladies and gentlemen, your armies fy '18 request seeks to satisfy the objectives and the themes laid up previously in this briefing and restated on this final slide. they do for your attention, and i welcome your questions at this time eric yes, sir. >> you mentioned you are moving counter towards updating legacy platforms and away from the new start. it's at the ground mobility vehicle and the firepower vehicles? last year new start were supposed to i guess priorities for infantry brigades, are those gone? has a? >> they are not conduct they are just not a new store in in goal for this year. >> sounds like you're focusing a bit on a lease of the things you mentioned -- >> one of several 2010 budget hearings with covered briefings as well but you can find them at c-span.org for this one search army budget. we will take you live tedious senator capito in to su