Navy Budget

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's justification for its fiscal year (FY) 1991 weapons procurement budget request and prior year appropriations to identify areas for potential reductions and rescissions.

GAO found that: (1) there were $389.3 million in potential reductions to the Navy's FY 1991 budget request and $25.7 million in potential rescissions from FY 1990 appropriated funds; (2) potential 1991 budget reductions included $113.5 million from the Trident II missile, $146.4 million from the Tomahawk missile, $27.4 million from the High Speed Anti-Radiation (HARM) missile, $19.7 million from the MK-48 advanced capability torpedo, $49.3 million from the MK-50 advanced lightweight torpedo, and $33 million from the 16-inch gun ammunition; (3) potential FY 1990 budget rescissions included $21.4 million from the MK-48 advanced capability torpedo and $4.3 million from the MK-50 advanced lightweight torpedo; (4) there was also a potential reduction of $27.4 million from the Air Force's FY 1991 budget request for HARM; (5) there was a potential rescission of $2.2 million from the Navy's FY 1990 and FY 1988 appropriations for 16-inch gun ammunition; (6) the reductions and rescissions resulted primarily from contract production and delivery problems, testing slippages, and deficiencies in the various weapons programs; and (7) the Navy no longer needed $290.5 million of FY 1988 to FY 1990 funds for the purposes specified in the selected weapons procurement activities.