Report: $40 billion needed to expand Army

[unhappycamper]

Report: $40 billion needed to expand Army
Staff writer - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 22, 2008 20:56:09 EST

The Army projects it will need $40 billion annually above current spending levels once a planned 74,200 troops are added, according to a draft service report for the Obama transition team.

The report says the planned force of 1.1 million soldiers would require a budget of “$170 billion to $180 billion per year to sustain,” well above the 2009 budget of about $140 billion.

A draft copy of the 43-page document, labeled “predecisional” and dated November 2008, was obtained by Defense News, a sister publication of Army Times.

In early 2007, the Bush administration proposed swelling the Army, as well as the Marine Corps, by early next decade. Congress approved the plan. Army officials have hinted for months that a larger force will require a bigger annual budget. What has been missing, however, are specific cost estimates like those included in the transition paper.

Naturally, with the grow-the-Army plan, the U.S. will need personnel dollars and extra dollars for equipping, said one Army official familiar with service planning.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/army_obama_memo_122208w/%2e