Pentagon requests funding shift for aviation training, cyberspace operations

By Jaspreet Gill / July 1, 2020 at 3:58 PM

The Defense Department is asking Congress for a $122.6 million transfer to support Army flight training to mitigate readiness risk resulting from the service's pilot shortage.

Funding would support rotary wing flight instructor support, simulations, maintenance of training aircraft and more.

"Without additional funding, the aviation readiness levels will degrade as the Army will continue to have a pilot deficit across the Army’s aviation formations," according to the request obtained by Inside Defense. "Additionally, lack of funding will impact the graduate pilot course, which generates the Army’s instructor pilots and maintenance test pilots, thereby limiting the Army's ability to train pilots in future years."

The shift would bring the Army's total fiscal year 2020 training and recruiting funding to over $5.3 billion.

DOD in its request is also asking to shift $9.9 million to the Army's cyberspace operations effort as a part of its annual omnibus reprogramming request.

The funding would be used to reduce and address risk from adversaries targeting mission critical cyber vulnerabilities in defense weapon systems, the document states.

The requested increase is divided into two new starts: $6.3 million to "expedite technology transition from laboratory to operational use for anomaly detection/data analysis to 'detect, prevent, analyze and neutralize' malicious events for enhanced Vehicle Security System to an existing platform" and $3.6 million to "provide an automated, distributed, scalable and web-based platform for planning, executing and assessing full spectrum cyber tactical operations to include RF-enabled operations."

The transfer would bring the Army's FY-20 funding for cyberspace operations support to $62 million.

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