By Marina Malenic
The Obama administration’s $549 billion Defense Department spending request for FY ’11 includes $170.8 billion for the Air Force, of which $24.2 billion would be spent on weapons procurement.
Congress this year appropriated $22.7 billion for Air Force procurement programs.
The air service plans to purchase 149 new aircraft with $15.4 billion of the overall procurement budget. Service officials noted that 97 of those would be manned aircraft, while 52 would be drones.
The base budget provides for 36 MQ-9 Reaper drones, 22 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, 15 Light Mobility Aircraft, eight C-27J Spartan mobility aircraft, four RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft, five CV-22A Osprey tiltrotor planes for Air Force Special Operations Command and three HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters, among others.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking yesterday at the Pentagon, announced that a new three-star program manager would be named this week to replace Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Heinz. He also said that, because of unexpected program cost growth and performance problems, $614 million in fees would be withheld from prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT].
“The taxpayer should not have to bear the entire burden of getting the JSF program back on track,” said Gates.
The president’s budget request calls for $10.7 billion for F-35 development and for the purchase of 43 aircraft, 22 of which are expected to go to the Air Force.
Gates also said he would “strongly recommend” that Obama veto any bill that includes money for a congressionally-backed program to develop an alternate engine for the aircraft. He also said the veto threat would apply to extension of the Boeing [BA] C-17 Globemaster production line.
“I am fully aware of the political pressure to continue building the C-17 and to proceed with an alternate engine for the F-35,” he said. “Let me be clear: I will strongly recommend that the president veto any legislation that sustains the unnecessary continuation of these two programs.”
At a separate briefing, Maj. Gen. Al Flowers, the Air Force budget deputy, said the service request provides for support of 24 space launches in FY ’11. It also provides for procurement of one Wideband Global SATCOM and one Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite, with advanced procurement for one more of each.
The budget also forecasts development of a new bomber and nuclear cruise missile beginning in the next five years. The FY ’11 budget includes $5.7 billion for industrial base sustainment, with “the aim of putting real dollars into the budget” for a new bomber in the FY ’12 request, according to Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy. From 2011 to 2015, the Pentagon will fund “a portfolio of initiatives to improve long-range strike capabilities,” including upgrades to the legacy bomber fleets, according to budget documents.
In line with that effort, the department has asked the Air Force and Navy to conduct a long-range precision strike study. The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), an analysis of future capabilities that was released in conjunction with the budget, orders the air and sea services to scrutinize options for a capability that would be able to target and deliver precision strikes while surviving electronic interference in an area protected by advanced air defenses.
The budget requests doubling procurement of the Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle in order to increase combat air patrols to at least 65 by 2015.
The plan includes $1 billion for Air Force-specific efforts requested by the ISR Task Force.
The budget plans for awarding an Air Force KC-X tanker contract this summer, with initial purchases in 2013.