The Congressional Research Service identified 166 programs that had a projected increase of at least 25 percent in funding or quantity from 2010, including General Dynamics Corp.’s Virginia-class submarine and General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. About $1.8 billion for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would also be curtailed under the continuing resolution.
“There are all sorts of ripple effects on the programs,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. “We are almost halfway through the fiscal year and we are already well into these problems.”
In the case of the Virginia-class submarine, “the program is not only being slowed down, but the cost-efficiency is actually being thrown off,” Harrison said. Buying two submarines a year would save money, he said. The Navy requested $5.1 billion for two subs in fiscal 2011, compared with $3.9 billion for one sub in fiscal 2010. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn told senators March 1 that the Pentagon is “struggling to avoid disrupting the workforce” at the General Dynamics shipyard in Groton, Connecticut.
Delaying the start of new programs or of new phases in weapons programs, such as the transition from development to production, also has ripple effects, Harrison said. Contractors may lose key design personnel or have difficulty buying parts needed to produce the hardware, he said.