Readiness woes loom on horizon, lawmaker says - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Readiness woes loom on horizon, lawmaker says

A key lawmaker said Tuesday that strains on equipment and people are causing declining readiness in the Navy and Air Force, while the Army and Marine Corps are keeping pace only through a reliance on emergency war funding to cover the cost of repairing or replacing vital equipment.

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, said that if war funding dries up — and he expects it will — the Army and Marine Corps will miss a 2013 deadline for restoring prepositioned stockpiles and resetting equipment.

“My fear is that budgetary pressures and other priorities will continue to drive that timeline further to the right,” Ortiz said of the 2013 deadline to fully restore force readiness.

Immediate problems for the Navy and Air Force involve a variety of budget contraints that include underfunding of ship maintenance and flight hours for both services, as well as in funds for aviation spare parts, Ortiz said.

The shortages are occurring even though the 2011 defense budget request includes $283.1 billion for operations and maintenance accounts, a $17.8 billion increase over current spending.