Congress rushed to pass the appropriations bill last week in order to avert another government shutdown, and President Obama signed the bill into law almost immediately. Unlike the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the omnibus spending bill made lots of cuts to most major defense acquisition programs. Ten major maneuvers in the bill in particular could set up some interesting battles between the Pentagon and Congress, beginning when the president’s budget drops next month…
10.
Bill trims munitions, aircraft — The bill makes a number of cuts to numerous programs that were accompanied only with the short explanation, “program decrease.” Most of the time, these cuts did not show up in either the Senate or House panel’s markups from last year. Here are the programs that received these cuts:
- H-1 Upgrades (less $145.3 million and approximately four aircraft)
- KC-130J Hercules (less $65.3 million and approximately one aircraft)
- Small Diameter Bomb (less $6.3 million and approximately 22 bombs)
- Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (less $204 million and approximately 448 units)
- AIM-9X Sidewinder (less $15.5 million and approximately 19 missiles)
- AGM-88 AARGM (less $17.8 million and approximately 20 missiles)
- Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (less $20 million and approximately 13 missiles)
- Joint Stand-Off Weapon (less $19.2 million and approximately 46 missiles)
9.
No incremental funding for Virginia-class — We noted in the report on the passage of the NDAA that Congress appeared diametrically opposed to the Navy’s proposal to fund its Virginia-class subs incrementally in order to relieve strain on the shipbuilding budget. Appropriators decided to double the amount the NDAA authorized in order to fully fund the submarines in fiscal 2014, adding nearly a billion dollars.
8.
Next-gen jammer under scrutiny — Appropriators slashed $100 million from the president’s request for $258 million for research and development of the next-generation jammer, slated for use on the Growler. In language added to the bill, lawmakers noted that they concur with a recent Government Accountability Office report stating that the NGJ program should examine redundancies between the program and existing programs. “In addition, the GAO recently upheld the technology development bid protest highlighting four recommendations, and the agreement directs that all four recommendations be implemented,” the bill added. “Due to the fact that the Navy is limiting competition early in the NGJ acquisition program, the Navy should acquire the necessary technical data rights and allow for an open systems architecture approach that would facilitate continued competition for the remainder of the NGJ acquisition program. As a result of the bid protest being upheld and a six month program delay, the agreement reduces the NGJ program by $100,000,000.”
7.
Delays hamper AMDR — The bill cuts a big chunk of change from the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) effort — $118 million out of $275.9 million requested — due to delays in the program. The bill didn’t include any language discussing the move in detail, but the Senate Appropriations Committee’s report last year stated that the Navy “originally planned to award the contract and down select to a single manufacturer in November 2012, which was subsequently delayed to July 2013.” As a result, most of the fiscal 2013 money will be awarded later than planned, hence the cut, the committee noted.
6.
M1 Abrams funding protected — Appropriators sided with the authorizers on the M1 Abrams program and boosted funding for upgrades over the protests of the Army. Congress believes the $90 million increase will help protect the tank’s industrial base from atrophy, but the Army argues that international orders are more than enough to sustain the lull in domestic production. In the end, M1 Abrams backers got things to go their way this year.
5.
More Blackhawks for National Guard — The NDAA made no changes to the president’s request for 65 helicopters at $1 billion, but appropriators have decided to boost the buy by $72 million and four aircraft. The move is a compromise, as the HAC wanted to add $146 million for eight helicopters in its markup. The aircraft are earmarked for the Army National Guard due to a the fact that its fleet is becoming “older, less capable, and less reliable,” the HAC wrote.
4.
Fiscal 2015 Super Hornets officially funded — It wasn’t an unexpected move, but the appropriations bill finally made it official: the Navy will receive $75 million in advance procurement funds for 22 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets next year, matching the NDAA. No language was included in the bill, but the SAC stated in its markup last year that in adding the funds, the committee “expects the Navy to procure additional aircraft in the fiscal year 2015 budget request.” We’ll see how the Navy, which wants to end production, responds in its budget submission next month.
3.
Congress pushes back on Reaper — Appropriators largely sided with authorizers in boosting the MQ-9 program by about $80 million, but opted to include an additional two aircraft to bring the total buy to 20 aircraft, eight aircraft more than the president’s request. The bill didn’t include language explaining the move, but language in the HAC’s markup indicated that lawmakers are “deeply concerned by the Air Force’s course of action” in fiscal 2014. Essentially, Congress feels that the service is trying to ramp down production of the Reaper far too fast, and that the Air Force essentially attempted to cancel out Congress’ addition of 12 aircraft by cutting 12 aircraft in this year’s request, a “complete and brazen contradiction of congressional intent,” the committee wrote.
2.
Lawmakers rebuff Army, boost Lakota buys — This is one of the programs that had a big question mark over its head going into the appropriations bill, after the House and Senate reached middle ground in the NDAA and approved an increase of 10 aircraft over the president’s request. Ultimately, the appropriators agreed with the authorizers and also boosted funding by $75 million for another 10 helos. As is the case with the Super Hornet, it will be interesting to see how the Army will respond in its budget request, and whether the service will seek to simply end production of the helo with this buy — and whether Congress will allow it.
1.
Cuts to F-35 deepened — Neither the House nor the Senate appropriators made terribly deep cuts to the F-35 program in their mark-ups last year, but the new bill slices much deeper into the troubled program. The bill passed last week cut $787 million from the program, and although it spared all fiscal 2014 aircraft, it cut advance procurement funding for two F-35A aircraft and one F-35C aircraft. It’s clear that Congress still lacks confidence in the program’s maturity and ability to stay on track. Language included in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s report in its bill — but not included in the final bill — states that lawmakers were concerned that while the fiscal 2014 request maintains production at previous levels, it increases advance procurement for 2015 aircraft — prematurely, in the eyes of Congress. The committee said it was reducing AP funding to “ensure that the program stays focused on reducing risk in the development and test phase, remains on a positive trend of reducing concurrency costs, and is affordable for both U.S. and allied purchase now and into the future.”