Pentagon budget 2022: US Navy submits flat topline funding request

The proposed Fiscal year (FY) 2022 Pentagon budget proposal requests USD211.7 billion for the US Navy (USN) Department, which represents an increase of USD3.8 billion, or 1.8%, compared to the USN’s FY 2021 enacted budget.

In a Pentagon briefing after the release, Rear Admiral John Gumbleton Deputy, Assistant Navy Secretary for Budget, called the USN topline request “essentially flat”.

USN officials have been saying publicly they expected a larger increase, covering inflation and including an additional increase of a like amount, to help build and maintain their proposed larger ship fleet.

“The additional funds partially offset the overall 2.2% inflation rate that the Federal Reserve predicts for 2021, allowing the DON (Navy Department) to maintain buying power and capability almost at the same level as FY 2021,” the USN said in navy budget documents released on 28 May.

The navy portion of the budget request is about USD163.9 billion. The US Marine Corps’ portion is about USD47.9 billon

The budget request includes USD 58.2 billion for the USN’s procurement accounts, according to the budget documents, a decrease of about 5.7%.

Other accounts fared better compared to the previous fiscal year, with the USN requesting the following amounts: USD 71.2 billion for operations and maintenance funding, an increase of about 3.4%; USD56.6 billion for military personnel, an increase of about 3.5%: USD22.6 billion, an increase of about 12.4%; and USD3 billion for infrastructure, an increase of about 13.9%.

Driving some of the overall procurement decrease is the USD22.6 billion request for shipbuilding procurement, which is about 3% less than the USD22.3 billion in FY 2021.