To watch Senator Capito’s questioning, click here or the image above.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, today questioned U.S. Secretary of the Army Hon. Christine Wormuth and U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville on the U.S. Army’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2024.
During the hearing, Senator Capito asked about the effectiveness of American munitions in support of Ukraine. Additionally, Senator Capito asked about existing stockpiles of weapons for the U.S. Army, and questioned the leaders about current recruiting challenges and the standards the Army uses to vet potential service members.
Senator Capito also highlighted a recent event that brought the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions to Clay County, W.Va. to train on complex terrain and test out emerging military technology.
HIGHLIGHTS:
ON PERFORMANCE OF U.S. ARMY MUNITIONS IN UKRAINE:
SEN. CAPITO: “How has observing the Ukraine conflict helped the Army assess the performance of existing army munitions, and assumptions about our requirements for the future fight?”
GEN. MCCONVILLE: “First of all, you know, as far as performance, I think it's showing, you know, things like HIMARS has become game changers. We look at the amount of .155 rounds that are being utilized – they're very, very effective. Quite frankly, U.S. weapon systems across the board have been in great demand and are working extremely well.”
ON CURRENT DOMESTIC U.S. ARMY MUNITIONS STOCKPILES:
SEN. CAPITO: “Madame Secretary, would you say, in terms of what our capacity is? Now, let's just say we were to be engaged, I know hypotheticals are terrible, but to be engaged in something where we would need those munitions for our own purposes. Are we ready to do that? I mean, we're not bleeding ourselves down to a point where we would not be ready but we need to replenish, is that the case?"
SEC. WORMUTH: “As we've looked at the Ukrainian requests for support, we've weighed that very carefully, so we are not you know, giving away more than we can afford to, if you will. Although I think we've been very creative at finding ways to be able to give them as much as we possibly can without going too low in our own stockpiles. But we have a lot of work to do, I would say, Senator, in regenerating our industrial base, and that's why we're investing $1.5 billion in this budget to invest in our own organic industrial base. You know, we've made I think, very good use of the resources Congress has given us through the supplementals to get that on contract quickly and get our partners in industry… to increase their production. And I think we are rebuilding that capacity now. That will, I think, serve us quite well in the future.”
ON RECENT U.S. ARMY TRAINING EXERCISES IN WEST VIRGINIA:
SEN. CAPITO: “A couple of weeks ago, hundreds of soldiers for the 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne came to rural West Virginia for a unique training experience. They were able to get their hands on developmental technology, use it in a realistic training environment and provide real feedback on the impact of the final product. I don't know if you're aware of that training exercise, and if you'd have any comments on what that looks like in the future?”
GEN. MCCONVILLE: “I’m a little privy to the 101st Airborne, it has a very special place in my heart, but you know, having units go out in places like West Virginia and work with people is really important for the work they do, but also for the exposure. One of the things that we need to work on is making sure that people get exposed to our soldiers, so they know what the military is about and that type of training.”
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