President's FY2015 Defense Budget Retires OH-58 Kiowas
The U.S. Army plans to retire its fleet of Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warriors under an aviation restructuring initiative. (Photo: U.S. Army)
The U.S. Army plans to retire its fleet of Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warriors under an aviation restructuring initiative. (Photo: U.S. Army)

The Obama administration delivered a proposed $496 billion base U.S. defense budget for Fiscal Year 2015 to the Congress on March 4. In a round of briefings at the Pentagon, service budget officials spoke of making difficult choices because of spending limits Congress imposed in the Budget Control Act of 2011, followed by deep “sequestration” budget cuts that took effect in FY2013. Congress scaled back sequestration somewhat with the Bipartisan Budget Act it passed in December.