Here are the programs making the biggest news this past week:
Congress adds money for Abrams tanks — The House-approved fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill rebuffs the Army’s decision to suspend M1 Abrams tank production, adding $90 million to keep refurbishing tanks at the Ohio plant, according to the Columbus Dispatch. It’s been two years since the Pentagon first started asking Congress not to include money for tank refurbishments, but lawmakers have continued to reject the move, contending that such a suspension in production would jeopardize future production. The Army, on the other hand, argues that international orders can more than sustain the plant in the meantime.
Singapore mulls F-35 buy — Potential international customers continue to chime in on the F-35 program, with Singapore’s defense minister saying last week that the nation was seriously considering purchasing the aircraft, but was in no particular hurry to do so, according to Reuters. Singapore officials recently viewed the demonstration of two F-35B short-take-off, vertical-landing variants of the aircraft while visiting an Air Force base in Arizona recently.
Boeing leans toward Super Hornet investment — Boeing has high hopes for the future of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet on the international market as the lower-cost, ready-to-fly alternative to the F-35, but with domestic orders starting to dry up the company has until March 2014 to determine whether invest millions of dollars to continue production of the jet, Reuters quoted a Boeing executive last week. The company believes future orders will keep production of the fighter humming beyond 2020, even though production is scheduled to end in 2016.
AH-64 may bear Kiowa load — Agencies throughout the Pentagon are looking to slash costs wherever they can, and the Army is no different, eyeing the possibility of scrapping its fleet of OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters — which a Defense News report noted could mean AH-64 Apaches will end up bearing a great operational burden in the future. It could also result in the Army shuffling its fleet of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and UH-72 Lakotas. However, some doubt the Apache’s ability to fill the scout role.