La House Armed Services Committee decided to fund Department of Defense programs not included in the Pentagon financial instrument which amounts to $ 582 billion. The Commission approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act which authorizes the use of a special fund to circumvent the budget limits imposed by the Obama administration.
With the new funds, the United States will be able to add 27.000 active-duty military personnel and 25.000 reservists. 14 additional F / A-18E / Fs for the navy and 11 F-35s. A plus of two billion has been allocated to the naval shipbuilding program.
"Each of these investments has been identified as a core requirement for the military, none of them have been fully funded in the Budget request of the President ".
The NDAA then cleared approximately $ 524 billion for the base budget and $ 58,8 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. Overall, the new financial instrument handed the Defense Department and industry a list of victories over programs previously ousted from the budget.
$ 1.4 billion for another 14 F / A-18 E / F Super Hornet for the navy. $ 1,5 billion for an additional 11 F-35s divided as follows: five F-35As for the Air Force, two F-35Bs for the Marine Corps and four F-35Cs for the US Navy.
For the third consecutive year, lawmakers have rejected the A-10's advanced retirement from the Air Force: to be discussed in 2018. The Air Force says A-10s are now too expensive to continue flying, but the Lawmakers categorically reject such arguments, stating that such platforms continue to save lives in battle. The bill requires the Air Force to keep a minimum of 171 A-10s operational, at least until comparative tests with the F-35 are concluded.
Budgetary implications for a restart of Lockheed Martin's F-22 line confirmed.
Several helicopters financed further for the army. $ 440 million for additional UH-60M helicopters Black Hawk, 162 million for the AH-64s Apache. $ 150 million for two more V-22s Osprey and $ 95 million for an additional Northrop-Grumman made MQ-4C Triton.
The navy gets an additional $ 2,3 billion for two new ships and full funding for a partially funded destroyer last year.
(photo: US Air Force)
