Senior Army leaders testifying on Capitol Hill continued their call for “predictable, adequate and sustained” funding as the service pushes ahead on its top modernization priorities.

The Army’s $173 billion budget request for fiscal 2022 “reflects continuity and the Army’s continued commitment to its high-priority modernization programs,” said Douglas Bush, acting assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology.

Speaking June 7 before the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, Bush said realizing the Army’s modernization priorities is “highly dependent” on getting the right level of funding.

Gen. Mike Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, who testified alongside Bush, agreed. Almost two dozen of the Army’s modernization capabilities are projected to be ready to begin fielding over the next four years, he said, adding the Army’s efforts are “necessary to maintain our global competitive edge.”

The work is important as the U.S. military positions itself to compete with near-peer adversaries, particularly China and Russia.

In a statement submitted to the subcommittee, Bush and Murray warned China is “progressing” in artificial intelligence, robotics and cyber, and it is making advancements in hypersonics that add to its strategic reach and endanger some of the U.S. military’s traditional force projection assets.

“Both China and Russia have also committed to an increased pace and scope of military exercises, honing their joint warfighting capability, while China went through a large-scale restructure and change of leadership to reinforce and enhance its modernization goals,” they said.

The Army also is grappling with challenges here at home, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic and tightening budgets.

Bush and Murray said the Army was able to sustain its modernization work during the pandemic, calling this past year one of “dramatic change, rapid innovation, shared challenges and significant progress.”

Going into fiscal 2022, the Army faces a $3.6 billion budget reduction that preserves military personnel funding but reduces procurement, research, development, testing and evaluation funds by $4.2 billion from current spending. The $173 billion budget requested by the Army is part of an overall $715 billion DoD budget for fiscal 2022. 

The goal is to keep modernizing and developing for the future, they said. “The Army, to be clear, will never be ‘done’ modernizing. We are laying the foundation now to make sure the Army continues to modernize for the future of 2035, and for the one after that.”

Murray added this is “more than modernization for the Army.” 

“We call this a transformational change,” he said. “The risk of not following through on the transformation we’ve started [is] our soldiers are going to have the same equipment they have today 20 years from now. I do think that will put them at a serious disadvantage on that future battlefield.”