Kay Granger: “This amendment seeks to reverse a justified reduction made by the committee to the request for the AMRAAM missile…”

“This amendment seeks to reverse a justified reduction made by the committee to the request for the AMRAAM missile program. Both the Navy and the Air Force, historically, overestimate the cost of the missile in their budget request. In the last 5 years, this overestimation has been 12 percent, on average. The fiscal year 2019 request assumes a unit cost that is 16 percent more than the most recent contract. For several years in a row, Congress has adjusted the budget request for this program to account for these overestimates and other facts of life, such as production delays. In fact, the delivery schedule for this program has been revised 25 times since 2011, and the production of new guidance system components is 21 months behind schedule. The Department, itself, has frequently sought to take savings from the AMRAAM program for other priorities. For example, the Air Force has, 5 years straight on, sought approval to reprogram a total of $57 million of this program to other needs. This is in addition to the reductions that have been taken by Congress. It, therefore, defies the facts to claim that this program is being underfunded. Because of the long time it takes the Department of Defense to put together its budget request, these requests do not always reflect the most current information. The committee takes commonsense reductions when they will do no harm to national security.…”