McCarthy shares fiscal year 2021 focus areas

ARLINGTON, TX -- Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy this week laid out readiness and modernization priorities for the fiscal year 2021 budget.

McCarthy told reporters he was happy with the $741 billion total topline for defense spending in the budget, which is expected to be submitted next month.

"One thing in particular about readiness you will see is us talking about the strategic aspect, force projection," McCarthy said at Bell's flight research center in Texas. "That's as much Gen. Gus Perna of our Materiel Command as it is Gen. [Michael] Garrett, the Forces Command commander. So, getting the notification to a unit, getting them on an airplane, putting their equipment on a ship and being in position in a matter of days. And there's no greater testament to that than the 1st Brigade Combat team in the 82nd Airborne Division."

McCarthy added the Army is making investments working with U.S. Transportation Command to ensure the service has lift capabilities in place as well as testing "a lot of stuff across all the investment portfolios."

"From a monetization standpoint, [we're] ensuring that we have the dollars to the [2022 to 2023] timeframe. . . . We're ready to transition to buying low-rate initial production tranches of prototype materials that are out there in place," McCarthy said.

He added the Army is "staying the course and making some slight adjustments" in FY-21, but that "bigger choices" will be made in the FY-23 and FY-24 time frame.