Summary of the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization

Topline (in billions of dollars)

FY14             FY15    Decrease                                             
 $526.8    $495.9    $30.9Discretionary Base                         
 $ 17.6    $ 17.5    $0.1Defense Activities at
                            the Department of Energy         
 $ 80.7    $ 63.7    $17  War Spending (OCO)                 
$625.1    $577.1    $48  Total                                          

Major nuclear weapons and non-proliferation programs

New START Treaty nuclear weapons reductions: Drops a House provision prohibiting New START implementation.

ICBM silos: Contains a provision maintaining all current ICBM missile silos in a “warm status” able to contain a deployed ICBM for the life of the New START Treaty, scheduled to terminate in 2021 with a five-year extension possible, rather than a House provision that would have required silos to remain in an indefinite “warm status.”

Cost of nuclear weapons: Requires a Congressional Budget Office report every two years on the cost of nuclear weapons over the next 10 years with an update in off years if there is a significant change. Rejects a House provision to have this report every year.

Cruise missile: Requires a new nuclear-tipped cruise missile by 2025 or 2026 and rejects a Pentagon proposal to delay the program until 2027.

Paying for new nuclear-armed submarines: Establishes a National Sea-based Deterrence Fund to pay for the Ohio-class nuclear submarine replacement program because the Navy cannot afford the sub.

Missile defense (1): Authorizes missile defense programs at $8.9 billion, the budget request level plus a net increase of $364 million for improvements to our homeland defense, increased Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) interceptors and for Israeli missile defense programs.

Missile defense (2): Adds $40 million to upgrade the current ground-based mid-course missile interceptors.

Missile defense (3): Requires the Secretary of Defense to ensure that, prior to a final production decision and prior to operational deployment of a new or upgraded interceptor, sufficient and operationally realistic testing of the system has been conducted and that the testing results demonstrate a high probability that the system will work in an operationally effective manner.

Missile defense (4): Requires a Federally Funded Research and Development Center to conduct a study of the testing program for the ground-based midcourse missile defense system.

East Coast missile defense: Rejects $40 million approved by the House to study an East Coast missile defense system.

Nuclear pit production: Requires the National Nuclear Security Administration to demonstrate the production capacity of 50-80 nuclear pits for nuclear weapons by 2027-2029 and 80 nuclear pits by 2031.

Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR): Permits CTR funding to Russia in Fiscal Year 2015 but would then stop the program. Approves the request of $365 million for the program.

Mixed oxide fuel (MOX): Increases funding for construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility from $196 million to $341 million, an increase of $145 million.

B-61 tactical bomb for Europe: Approves the $643 million request for the B61 Life Extension Program.

Dismantlement of nuclear weapons: Increases funding from $30 million to $40 million.

Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI): Increases funding by $50 million, from $333 million to $383 million.

Iran: Requires a presidential report to Congress biannually for 10 years verifying Iran’s implementation of the interim deal and any final agreement.

Major conventional weapons programs

Authorizes the following Pentagon requests:
$5.8 billion for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement of 34 aircraft; $1.0 billion for E-2D surveillance aircraft; $1.56 billion for the KC-46A tanker aircraft; $1.4 billion for C-130 airlift aircraft; $1.3 billion for the Carrier Replacement Program: $5.9 billion for two Virginia class submarines; $419.5 for the DDG1000 destroyer program; $2.8 billion for two DDG-51s; $1.4 billion for three Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) vessels; $801.7 million for a moored training ship, $1.5 billion for 19 V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft for the Marine Corps; $859.7 million for 26 UH/AH-1 helicopters for the Marine Corps; $1.0 billion for 29 MH-60R helicopters for the Navy; and $2.0 billion for eight P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS): Prevents the Navy from spending money toward the construction of LCS-25 or LCS-26 until certain reports are submitted to Congress.

Amphibious ship: Adds one LPD-17 San Antonio class amphibious ship and $800 million.

Proposed Pentagon savings not permitted by Congress

A-10 aircraft: Bars the Pentagon from retiring 100 of the 238 A-10 Warthog attack jets but permits the Air Force to place 36 in backup status while keeping the rest flying, and adds $334 million for that purpose.

Ships: The Pentagon has proposed servicing and modernizing 11 cruisers and three dock landing ships. The bill approves the servicing and modernization of two cruisers in the next year.

Apache helicopters: Bars the transfer of Apache helicopters from the Army National Guard to the active force.

Base closures: Rejects a new round of base closures, although it permits a new study of excess infrastructure.

Commissaries: Rejects cuts to the commissary program.

Tricare health program: In a compromise, permits “one-time modest increase” of $3 for pharmacy co-pays for retail prescriptions and mail-order non-generic prescriptions and includes a 1 percent decrease to the basic housing allowance in 2015.

E-3A AWACS: Blocks the Air Force from retiring seven of 31 E-3 AWACS that the Air Force had requested.

Cost increases mandated by Congress

Abrams tanks: Authorizes $120 million to upgrade Abrams tanks opposed by the Army    .
Aircraft carrier: Authorizes refueling and overhaul of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier at a cost of about $800 million in fiscal 2015 and more over the longer haul.

EA-18G Growler: Authorizes $450 million for five additional EA-18G Growlers.

LPD-28 amphibious ship: Provides $800 million for the LPD-28 amphibious ship that was not requested by the Pentagon.

Other major issues

Iraq and Syria: Authorizes $1.6 billion to train and arm Iraqis and permits reprogramming Pentagon funds for training and equipping Syrian rebels.

Afghanistan: Authorizes the full request of $4.1 billion for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF) to build and sustain the Afghan Army, Police and local security forces to protect the Afghan people as U.S. and coalition forces end combat operations and implement the post-2014 train, advise, and assist mission in Afghanistan.

Guantanamo Bay prison: Bars the administration from closing the facility.

Biofuels: Imposes restrictions on the Pentagon’s support for biofuels, although permits a waiver for national security reasons.

Cooperation with Russia: Prohibits military-to-military cooperation between the United States and Russia, except for critical U.S. security needs.  

Reassuring European allies: Authorizes a total of $1.0 billion for the European

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