Congress gives extra $3bn to Pentagon for aircraft procurement
After months of disagreement left the Pentagon operating without a full 2024 budget, lawmakers in Washington have agreed to a defence spending plan.
Notably, the fiscal year 2024 budget passed by the Congress provides a significant boost to aircraft procurement, with an additional $3 billion on top of the $40.6 billion requested by the Pentagon.
most notably the addition of $1.8 billion to purchase 10 new P-8 Poseidon MPA for the US Navy (USN).
the E-7 Wedgetail AEW&C is also getting a boost. Congress is providing the US Air Force (USAF) with an extra $200 million
an extra $413 million approved by Congress to cover two more E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes... the service is interested in acquiring six additional aircraft to reach a total fleet size of 125 Hawkeyes.
the navy is receiving $675 million to purchase five additional Bell-Boeing CMV-22. The funds will move the USN toward its CMV-22 target of a 48-aircraft fleet.
extra $221 million for the US Army to buy more Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from Boeing, including both the CH-47F and MH-47G special operations variant. The army had already requested $221 million for six Chinooks in 2024
The USAF also received $400 million in the 2024 budget to fund 10 more Sikorsky HH-60W CSAR... While the USAF had originally sought to acquire 113, service leaders had tried to end procurement of the type in 2023 with a total fleet of just 75 aircraft.
Congress also approved an extra $60 million in the FY2024 budget that will cover additional UH-60 Black Hawks for the Army National Guard. The army’s FY2024 budget request indicates the service had already planned to spend $736 million on 24 Black Hawks this year.
extra $1.1 billion in revenue to provide the USAF with new C-130J tactical transports. In 2023, 16 of the four-engined turboprops were funded at a total cost of $1.7 billion.
$451 million Congress approved to buy additional F-35 stealth fighters and spare engines.
RTX's P&W's Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) programme for the F135 was fully-funded – with a total of $497 million
Congress also effectively ended a long-running debate over the future of F-35 propulsion, terminating a programme to develop an entirely new engine and prohibiting the integration of “an alternative on any F-35 aircraft”.
The latest budget also includes some $2.3 billion to further development of a sixth-generation fighter under the USAF's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). That funding will also support the development of so-called collaborative combat aircraft – cheaper, autonomous jets the air force hopes to field in large numbers to support the NGAD fighter aircraft.
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