ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The Army’s budget guru will speak July 24 as part of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Coffee Series.

Maj. Gen. Mark Bennett, director of the Army budget, will discuss the Army’s $197.4 billion fiscal year 2026 budget request during the event at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The event opens at 6:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and networking. The program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m. It is free for military members, government employees and the media.

The Army is seeking $197.4 billion in fiscal year 2026 to transform the force for the future.

Unveiled on June 26, the budget request includes $5.4 billion that’s part of a separate spending bill being considered in Congress, as well as a 3.8% military pay raise.

“Our Army must transform now to a leaner, more lethal force by infusing technology, cutting obsolete systems and reducing overhead to defeat any adversary,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll says in an Army budget document.

As the Army moves to transform—and transform quickly—it needs adequate, timely and predictable funding, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus said.

Speaking April 22 at an Association of the U.S. Army Coffee Series event, Mingus said the Army was helped by “some additional authorities” in the continuing resolution that runs through Sept. 30, but “yearlong CRs are not good.”

When it comes to manufacturing, the biggest challenge facing the Army is the service’s approach to it, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

“It’s a process change, that’s what we’ve got to get after,” George said Dec. 7 during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “I think that’s the biggest challenge we have.”

The Association of the U.S. Army, joined by five like-minded military associations, is urging key lawmakers to pass adequate and timely budgets to support the Army in fiscal year 2025.

The Association of the U.S. Army is urging Congress to swiftly pass the national security supplemental to support the Army while investing in America’s defense industrial base.

In today’s complex and volatile world, the Army must transform—and transform quickly, the service’s top leaders testified April 10 on Capitol Hill.

“The world is more volatile today than I have seen it in my 36-year career,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said. “A spark in any region can have global impacts. Meanwhile, the character of war is changing rapidly. Our Army is as important as ever to the joint force. We must deter war everywhere and be ready to respond anywhere.”

The Army faces “devastating” effects if the $95 billion supplemental spending bill pending before Congress isn’t passed, Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said.

Speaking April 3 at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army as part of its Coffee Series, Camarillo explained that since the Oct. 1 start of fiscal year 2024, the Army has been paying for operations including support for NATO missions and deployments that previously had been paid for with supplemental funding.

As the Army rolls out its budget request for fiscal year 2025, the service urgently still needs funding for the current fiscal year, a panel of senior Army leaders said.

More than five months into fiscal 2024, which began Oct. 1, the Army continues to operate under a continuing resolution, stopgap funding that keeps spending at the previous year’s levels and prohibits new starts. The current measure expires March 22.