The Army is asking for a new $34M gun range at Fort Bragg; here's why
Fort Bragg stands to receive about $34 million for a new gun range as the Senate Armed Service Committee is scheduled on Wednesday to mark up the Départment of Defense’s proposed $773 billion budget for fiscal year 2023.
The Fort Bragg project is in the Army’s proposed $178 billion budget.
According to budget documents, the range would be used to "train and test crews and dismounted infantry squads on the skills necessary to detect, identify, engage and defeat stationary infantry and stationary and moving armor targets.”
“This (range) will support training requirements of the U.S. Army on mounted machine guns, grenade launchers and next-generation squad weapons,” budget documents state.
Units currently travel off-post to train for mounted gunnery training, according to the budget documents.
Fort Bragg is required to have four multi-purpose training ranges, “but has zero on hand,” budget documents state.
“Current ranges cannot support the training requirement due to the number of mounted units stationed at Fort Bragg,” the documents say.
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The range would serve for soldiers to meet qualifications and pre-validation if they are with deploying units, documents state and construction of the range would reduce costs associated with soldiers traveling out of state for the training.
“The lack of sufficient training on the weapons systems utilized on (a multi-purpose training range) contributes to increased risk of soldiers being unfamiliar with the operation of these platforms,” budget documents state. “Soldiers unfamiliar with their weapon systems will result in an increased incidence of malfunctions and possible damage.”
Budget documents state that the range would include a downrange site preparation area; an armor range operations control area; a staging and bivouac area; a range control tower; an operations and storage building; a building where leaders would provide assessments after training; a covered bleacher; and an eating area and a field latrine.
If Congress approves the National Defense Authorization Act that contains the Army’s budget proposal, construction for the Fort Bragg project would tentatively start in April 2023 and be completed by September 2024, according to documents.
Other proposals, according to documents, decreasing regular Army personnel from 485,000 soldiers to 473,000 Army-wide; increasing basic pay by 4.6%; increasing basic housing allowance by 3.9%; and increasing basic allowance for food by 3.4%.
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In an Army news release, Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said the decision to reduce personnel ensures that standards aren’t lowered when addressing “gaps” in recruiting projections.
“For the Army to keep momentum on our modernization programs, and to transform to the Army of 2030, it’s absolutely important that we maintain our emphasis on high-quality talent we need for our cutting-edge formations,” Camarillo said.
Camarillo also said the proposed budget maintains readiness and allows the Army to pivot from its past two decades of focusing on counterterrorism to adapting to prepare for the “pacing challenge in China and the acute threat of Russian aggression.”
The Army’s overall proposed budget is a $2.8 billion increase from the current fiscal year.
After the Senate Armed Services Committee meets this week for its markup of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act, the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled for its markup June 22.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3538.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Why the Army is asking for another gun range at Fort Bragg
