The Senate Armed Services Committee recently released its detailed report on the panel’s mark of the fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill, which sets up numerous battles with their House counterparts. We examined some of the largest programs affected last week, and today we take a closer look at three Air Force programs:
Global Hawk battle looms — Authorizers will have some work to do in conference to settle the debate over the Air Force’s decision to close out the U-2 fleet in favor of the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft. The House signed off on the move, but Senate authorizers slashed $108.5 million from the $244.5 million requested for “developing various capabilities for the Global Hawk, including a total of $208.8 million for various Block 30 development efforts,” according to the Senate authorizers’ report. Senators are “skeptical” of the Air Force’s plans to spend $1.9 billion on the RQ-4 over the next few years and retire the U-2.
“First, this plan would reduce capability and leave a deficit in meeting combatant commanders’ requirements now,” the report states. “Second, there is no real guarantee that spending $1.9 billion in the FYDP [future years defense plan] will allow the Air Force to replace the capability of the U–2 fleet with capability from Global Hawk Block 30 fleet. Finally, the FYDP that includes this funding is $115.0 billion more that the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) totals would allow for the Department of Defense (DOD) during that period. If Congress does not enact changes to amend the BCA, enhancement programs like the Block 30 upgrades would be at great risk.”
The panel replaced the $64.3 million slated for modifications and $5.8 million for research and development activites for the U-2 fleet as planned last year.
Senate, House to clash over KC-46 — Senate authorizers didn’t follow their House counterparts’ lead in cutting one of the seven KC-46 tankers the Air Force had planned to buy in the program’s first year of procurement, instead arguing that such a move would cost taxpayers $500 million long term. Arguing that the KC-46 has been one of the Pentagon’s “most successful and important acquisition programs,” the panel stated that cutting an aircraft based on savings — contradicting the House authorizers’ argument that it had to do with a concern over the program’s ramp rate — would be a mistake.
“The Air Force estimates that reducing procurement from seven aircraft to six in fiscal year 2015 would yield near-term savings of $139.6 million. However, the Air Force projects that this reduction in quantity would adversely affect contractual cost factors over the life of the program, ultimately increasing the cost to the taxpayer by more than $640.0 million,” the SASC report states. “A reduction would also impose severe risk on the contractor’s ability to meet its contractual requirement to deliver 18 aircraft by August 2017. Also, the government could risk losing the very favorable production pricing under the KC–46 contract by not living up to the government’s responsibilities under the contract to provide resources matched to contractor progress.”
As a result, the panel recommended full funding for the program, meaning that authorizers will have to hash it out in conference. Read more KC-46 analysis >>>
HASC and SASC agree on MQ-9 cuts — Despite consternation last year in the Air Force’s decision to slash MQ-9 Reapers, authorizers on both the House and Senate appear to agree that the service has no choice in this current budget environment. Senate authorizers made slight cuts to the program, but kept aircraft quantities the same. However, it was the House Appropriations Committee that had the harshest criticism for the move, calling it a “brazen” contradiction of congressional intent, so the move to scale back on Reapers has its biggest hurdles to go. Read more MQ-9 analysis >>>