AIP FYI #76: House Appropriators Approve 14.8% Increase in FY03 DOD S&T

Tomorrow the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider
the FY 2003 Defense Appropriations bill containing a proposed
14.8% increase in funding for science and technology programs
within the Department of Defense. H.R. 5010 was written by
the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, under the
leadership of Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Ranking Minority
Member John P. Murtha (D-PA).

An indication of the priority that the subcommittee gave to
the 6.1 (Basic Research), 6.2 (Applied Research), and 6.3
(Advanced Technology Development) programs is the share of the
total $354.7 billion defense budget for these three programs.
Many have called for 3% of the total budget to be devoted to
these S&T programs. The bill appropriates 3.2%.

The Bush Administration had requested a cut of $193 million in
S&T funding from the current year, a figure that was 2.7% of
its total DOD request, or $9,999 million. The committee bill
recommends an increase of $1,464 million to $11,341 million
for the S&T budget.

The 3% S&T target was cited in last fall’s Quadrennial Defense
Review Report. It stated: “A robust research and development
effort is imperative to achieving the Department’s
transformation objectives. DoD must maintain a strong science
and technology (S&T) program that supports evolving military
needs and ensures technological superiority over potential
adversaries. To provide the basic research for these
capabilities, the QDR calls for a significant increase in
funding for S&T programs to a level of three percent of DoD
spending per year.” The 3% target was advocated by the
Coalition on National Security Research, to which AIP and
several of its Member and Affiliated Societies belong.

Below are the percentage changes for the three S&T programs
between the current year and the FY 2003 proposed budgets in
H.R. 5010. Figures are provided in the aggregate, for the
three branches and Defense-Wide programs. The “Defense-
Wide”category is not total spending, but rather spending for
DARPA, missile defense, other defense labs.

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would increase 3.2%

AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would increase 8.9%

AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would
increase 23.9%

TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase
14.8%, from $9,877 million to $11,341 million

ARMY 6.1 funding would increase 1.3%

ARMY 6.2 funding would decline 2.5%

ARMY 6.3 funding would increase 20.5%

TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase
8.1%, from $2,051 million to $2,218 million

NAVY 6.1 funding would increase 0.7%

NAVY 6.2 funding would decline 5.5%

NAVY 6.3 funding would increase 0.8%

TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline
1.6%, from $2,052 million to $2,019 million

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would remain unchanged

AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would increase 9.1%

AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would increase 35.7%

TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would
increase 17.5% from $1,566 million to $1,840 million

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.1 funding would increase 7.4%

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would increase 22.1%

DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would increase 31.8%

TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding would increase 25.1% from
$4,208 million to $5,264 million

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Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org

(301) 209-3095

http://www.aip.org/gov

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