Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Thornberry, distinguished members of this committee, thank you for your continued support to the Army and our People.
In 2018, the National Defense Strategy outlined the current and future threat picture, drastically changing the Army's focus. The strategy outlined Great Power Competition, specifically Russia and China, who are rapidly investing to modernize their formations. In order to achieve national objectives laid out in the Defense Strategy, including deterrence, the Army, with the support of Congress, developed three, distinct priorities of Readiness, Modernization and Reform and aligned our budget against the same. Two and a half years into our modernization efforts, we are here to continue what we collectively started.
This budget request builds upon the funding and authorities that Congress provided over the past two years. Together, we are creating irreversible momentum towards a ready, modernized, multi-domain Army, capable to meet future demands highlighted in the NDS. Our FY21 budget request is $178B. Sixty-percent of that topline is invested in our People and towards Operations and Maintenance, with the remainder of our available budget aligned towards our modernization
priorities.
Despite a fixed topline and flat budget, demand for Army forces continues to rise. The Army currently fulfills 60% of the overall combatant commander's demands, with no projected decrease in
COCOM demand. Demand paired with the need to bring new systems online, will require us to grow the budget three to five percent real growth in the out years.
Readiness remains the Army's number one priority. We remain ready today, capable of dynamic force projection. Take for example, this year on New Year's Eve, we pushed a brigade size element on a no-notice, cold start, emergency deployment. Within hours, Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division went from holiday parties to wheels up on a C-17. Within a day, Soldiers were operating in the Middle East. Nearly half of our Brigade Combat Teams are at the highest levels of readiness, pulling us from a readiness trough to a readiness peak over the last three years.
On Modernization, we are rapidly developing new technologies across six modernization priorities and 31 signature systems, all geared towards meeting the demands of the future battlefields. The creation of Army Futures Command has allowed us to combine the stake-holders together and rapidly increase the speed of the modernization process. We are seeing real results. Prototypes that began in FY18/19 are maturing, with real capability landing in FY21/22.
In this fiscal year, we will increase Soldier touch points, test shots, capability demonstrations, and the fielding of our formations. The Army is investing $800M across the next five years towards Cloud Computing, which is central to our modernization effort. Long Range Fires including ERCA, PRSM, and Hypersonic missiles are flying further and hitting their targets, increasing our reach and lethality essential in deterrence and in the Joint fight. We have invested $1.3B towards these efforts and continued funding will allow the Army to field a road-mobile battery in FY23.
New aircraft in our Future Vertical Lift Portfolio, are flying hundreds of test hours as we fly before we buy. We have seen great advances in our Soldier Lethality portfolio for individual kit, with the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, that links multiple sensors to multiple shooters and multiple command and control nodes ultimately increasing lethality and survivability for our men and women.
The demand for Army forces, paired against a flat budget, has forced tough fiscal decisions. In-depth program reviews will continue in FY21, with the total target of an additional $9.1B in programs that will be delayed, reduced, or eliminated. The Army will continue to show fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars. We view every dollar as we do with ammunition; each bullet matters and is aimed at a target.
With Congress' steadfast support, we are here to finish what we collectively started. I would like to share the floor with my teammate, GEN McConville and I look forward to your questions.
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