Gen. Edward Daly, the leader of Army Materiel Command, will meet with senior service leaders and lawmakers in the next month to discuss plans to spend $16 billion over 15 years on organic industrial base modernization, he said today on a call with reporters.
“The organic industrial base was designed and really implemented in World War II,” Daly said. “So, what we have is really a 20th century capability to support a 21st century Army and joint force.”
Spending on the modernization plan could begin in fiscal year 2024 and last through FY-38, a Materiel Command spokeswoman told Inside Defense after the call.
The organic industrial base has 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants, with tens of thousands of workers, Daly said. OIB facilities build and maintain many of the Army’s systems, on their own and in coordination with defense contractors.
Materiel Command leaders had previously said the modernization plan would be ready by April.
Modernized facilities could include a greater use of robots and computer systems, as well as realigning the skills that workers have at different sites, Daly said. The network will retain the ability to surge production in wartime.
Industrial base modernization is linked to the Army’s broader goals to field new systems and orient the force toward multidomain operations, he said.
In a November interview, leaders at a Pennsylvania depot said they look at the 35 priority systems the service wants to field for indications of what future capabilities the depot will need. Upgrade plans there included new buildings and overhauls of existing facilities, including more modular production spaces that could produce or maintain a variety of systems.
Extended continuing resolutions this year will delay planned upgrades to the organic industrial base, and they could hold up progress on the Army’s priority modernization programs, Daly said on the call.
Congress has funded the Defense Department through a series of continuing resolutions since the fiscal year began in October, and the current one lasts until Feb. 18. New programs in the budget cannot begin until Congress passes a fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill.
Further continuing resolutions, up to a full year without a new budget, would prevent planned spending to improve industrial base capabilities, the Army's vice chief of staff told Congress last month.
“There’s implications beyond that to the modernization signature programs, in terms of certain decisions that can and can’t be made, and money and funding that could be applied accordingly,” Daly said.
The lack of a federal budget has already delayed upgrades to aluminum armor production at Rock Island Arsenal, IL, which could impact production of the Army’s new armored personnel carrier, the service said in December.
A yearlong continuing resolution would have “very significant consequences” across the organic industrial base and other military construction projects, Daly said.