House Panel Adds $100M For Future Bomber

Jun 13, 2011 By Jen DiMascio aerospace daily and defense report

The House Appropriations Committee is set to debate a draft version of the fiscal 2012 defense spending bill on June 14 that adds $100 million to encourage more competition on development of the future bomber.

A report on the bill providing details of how the $649 billion total should be spent in the eyes of the defense subcommittee began circulating on June 9. Aviation Week obtained portions.

The bill also adds $225 million to purchase a Boeing C-17A aircraft to replace one that crashed last year at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, according to the report.

The bill would make steep cuts as well, trimming $1.4 billion from U.S. Air Force research accounts, on the basis that programs had requested more money than was needed or provided poor justification for the request, the report says.

That includes chopping $219.9 million out of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, $124.5 million from the Rocket Systems Launch Program and $67.2 million from President Barack Obama’s request for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite program.

The defense panel included language in the bill governing the Boeing KC-46A tanker program, requiring the Air Force to notify Congress of any changes to the program exceeding $5 million no later than 30 days after making the change. Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), who represents the district where the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. would have made U.S. tankers had it won the competition, pushed for the provision. The language moves one step beyond a similar reporting requirement in the House version of the defense authorization bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) that gave the Air Force more time to report the changes.

The bill has many more hurdles to cross before becoming law. The Senate has yet to decide on a budget, and insiders predict the appropriations process there will start late, possibly in September.