1993 Army Budget

GAO reviewed the Army's justification for its fiscal year 1993 budget requests for its tracked and wheeled vehicle programs and identified potential budget reductions and a potential rescission totaling $192.2 million. This amount includes reductions of $161.1 million in fiscal year 1993 and a rescission of $31.1 million in fiscal year 1992. These potential savings are possible because (1) a program change reduced the Line-of-Sight Antitank weapon's funding requirement and (2) funding for an increment of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles acquisition program is not needed until after fiscal year 1993.

GAO found that the: (1) Army requested $122.8 million as part of its RDT&E budget request for FY 1993 for the engineering development of its line-of-sight antitank weapon (LOSAT); (2) Office of the Secretary of Defense rejected the LOSAT program's move from advanced development to engineering development as premature; (3) Army's FY 1993 budget could be reduced $122.8 million, and its FY 1992 appropriations could be reduced $31.1 million, since LOSAT is not proceeding to its engineering phase; and (4) Army could make a separate request for FY 1993 to continue LOSAT in advanced development. GAO also found that the: (1) Army requested $291.1 million for the family of medium tactical vehicles (FMTV); (2) Army has planned a two-step procurement of FMTV, with the second increment contract award to occur in December 1993; and (3) Army's FY 1993 budget request could be reduced $38.3 million, the cost of the second increment, since the award will not occur in FY 1993, which would comply with Army procurement guidance.