A key House panel is once again proposing to prevent the Air Force from using funds to retire its fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The House Armed Services Committee Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee yesterday released its proposed version of the fiscal year 2014 national defense authorization bill. The subcommittee specifically proposes to prevent any FY ’14 funds from being used to retire, prepare to retire, or place any Block 30s in storage. It would also require the Air Force secretary to maintain the operational capability of each Block 30 belonging to, or delivered to, the Air Force until Dec. 31, 2016.
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| A Global Hawk UAV. Photo: Northrop Grumman. |
The Air Force attempted to cancel the Global Hawk Block 30 program in its FY ’13 budget request, citing high costs and capability gaps. Congress, however, blocked that effort and restored the funding earlier this year.
The full HASC is scheduled to take up the proposed legislation June 5.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) and colleague Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) last week blasted the Air Force in a letter for ignoring legislation obligating the service to buy three additional Block 30s. Moran is a member of the House Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee (Defense Daily, May 17).
The Air Force would rather retire the Block 30s and instead go with the legacy U-2 spy plane. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said May 9 the U-2s, in certain respects, provide better capability for certain intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) missions because they can carry more capable sensors.
The Air Force currently has 16 Block 30s with two more under construction.
The proposed bill would also permit the defense secretary to enter into one or more multi-year, multi-vehicle contracts for the procurement of core tactical wheeled vehicles starting in FY ’14. The legislation defines core tactical wheeled vehicles as the family of medium tactical wheeled vehicles and their replacements, the family of heavy tactical wheeled vehicles and logistics vehicle system replacements.
The proposed legislation would also:
* Require the defense secretary to ensure that within each military service procurement account, a separate budget line item is designated for personal protection equipment such as body armor components, combat helmets, combat protective eyewear, protective clothing and other items as deemed appropriate;
* Require the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (AT&L) to establish a team to review software development for the F-35 and submit a report by March 3;
* Prohibit the Army from obligating post-Milestone B funds for the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program until the Army secretary submits a report to congressional defense committees;
* Require the defense secretary to submit a comprehensive research and development (R&D) strategy for achieving significant weight reductions for both hard and soft body armor components to congressional defense committees; and
* Modify the current requirement for an inventory of DoD tactical data link systems to include an assessment of vulnerabilities that the systems may encounter in anti-access or area-denial environments.
Northrop Grumman [NOC] is the prime contractor for the Global Hawk line of UAVs.