Defense budget watchers are waiting to see how Senate appropriators weigh in on the Pentagon’s controversial move to cancel a variant of the Global Hawk drone aircraft.
The Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee (SAC-D), the last of the four congressional defense panels to weigh in on the fiscal year 2013 Pentagon budget, will hold the final FY ’13 posture hearing with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey tomorrow. The Pentagon’s proposal to cancel the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft has been a point of contention in other budget hearings on Capitol Hill this year.
The Pentagon wants to end the Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft program and also mothball 18 copies of the drones already built or being produced. Pentagon officials maintain the Block 30 variant of the multi-version aircraft will rise in the coming years and they can save money by extending their use of the somewhat-comparable but aging manned U-2 spy plane.
Observers expect the SAC-D, which is chaired by full Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) Chairman Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), to support the aircraft program above the Pentagon’s request. Even if the Senate appropriators do not come to the aid of Northrop Grumman, though, they will likely have to negotiate with their counterparts in the House on the aircraft effort’s existence.
The version of the FY ’13 defense appropriations bill the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) approved May 17 calls for adding $278 million in funding for the Global Hawk Block 30, and directs the Air Force to buy the aircraft not only in FY ’13 but also to follow-through with the purchased of three funded yet not procured in FY ‘12. The committee’s report on the bill says it “does not concur with the Air Force’s proposal to retire the Global Hawk Block 30.” The HAC says it wants more examination of the Pentagon’s “abrupt reversal” on the relative merits of the Global Hawk Block 30 and the U-2, questions the Air Force’s stance that the U-2 is more cost-effective than the Global Hawk, and says it wants more information on divesting the drone fleet. The panel directs the Air Force to submit a detailed report to lawmakers on canceling the Global Hawk variant that includes an examination of converting the Block 30 drones to be used by the Navy for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program.
The Pentagon policy-setting committees, meanwhile, have both weighed in on the embattled Global Hawk program. The version of the FY ’13 defense authorization bill the House passed May 18, crafted by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), adds $263 million to the Pentagon’s budget to continue the drone program. The HASC’s report on the bill requires the Air Force secretary “to take all actions necessary to maintain RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk operational capability through December 31, 2014.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), meanwhile, calls in its report on the FY ’13 defense authorization bill for the Pentagon to brief lawmakers before August on the impact of Global Hawk Block 30 termination. The Senate has not yet debated that legislation, which the SASC approved May 24.