DoD Strategic Guidance “Protects” GPS Modernization

January 26, 2012

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GPS and other space systems fare well in the Department of Defense (DoD) strategic budget initiative outlined today (January 26, 2012) by U.S. civil and military officials.

The comments reflected policy decisions laid out in “Defense Budget Priorities and Choices,” an introduction to a strategic guidance intended to plot the course of the Pentagon over the next five years. Modernization of the Global Positioning System will be “protected” financially, according to the document.

“Space systems are critical to our surveillance, communications, positioning and networking capabilities,” the guidance states. “Therefore, we protected funding for upgrades to the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite programs.”

The DoD’s budget guidance “was driven by the approaching end of a decade of war, a changing technological and geopolitical landscape, and the national security.” It also is being driven by the Budget Control Act passed by Congress last year, which requires the Pentagon to make over $450 billion in budget cuts over 10 years.

The Pentagon’s total budget request is $525 billion for fiscal year 2013 (FY13) with an additional $88.4 billion for overseas contingency operations (OCO) — mostly in Afghanistan. These figures are reductions from $531 billion and $115 billion, respectively, in the current fiscal year.

Despite the near-term reductions, the FY13 DoD budget will still be about twice the size that it was in 2001. Moreover, after FY13, the DoD budget will begin growing again, reaching $611 billion by FY17, under the newly announced plan.