Defense Procurement News » defense appropriations bill

House Approves 2010 Defense Appropriations Act

Matthew Potter — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:16:36 +0000

The House passed the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill yesterday. Now it is up to the Senate to complete passage. The bill kept the F-35 second...

Air Force Buys Five Global Hawks

Matthew Potter — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:00:13 +0000

Despite the debate in Congress over how many Global Hawks could be ordered with the 2010 money the Air Force went ahead and used their Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) money to buy five. The House had written into their version of the Defense Appropriations bill that only three could be purchased due to concerns with delays in the program. The Senate had said five. The bill currently is in Conference as the two versions are reconciled. It is proving to be a long process as their are several key differences between the two.

Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract worth a little over $300 million for the five aircraft plus supporting equipment.

Nortrop Grumman Faces Cuts to Global Hawk Production

Matthew Potter — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:22 +0000

A little discussed part of the House’s version of the Defense Appropriations Bill is a cut in number of the Global Hawk strategic UAV from five to two. This was done because the House felt that the development of the latest version was behind schedule so some procurement dollars could be saved by delaying sixty percent of the planned quantity. Northrop Grumman feels that the schedule has been caught up and the program is on track. The Senate has supported the full buy of five. That means that the exact number will have to be worked out in the Conference Committee and hopefully for Northrop that will be the full amount. If the aircraft are cut Northrop will have to lay off some workers and it may lead to a production break in the line. This would seriously impact future buys as there will be a cost associated with starting the line up again.

Obama’s Defense Budget Plan Falling Apart Before First One Passed

Matthew Potter — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:20:58 +0000

President Obama's plans for defense reform are being held up by the lack of the 2010 defense appropriations bill. Now it is coming out that a...

Alabama Senator Trys To Intervenes In Tanker Competition

Matthew Potter — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:09:56 +0000

Senator Sessions of Alabama is planning on amending the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill to make the Air Force provide cost data to Northrop from...

GigOptix applauds subcommittee approval

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:44:35 +0000

BOTHELL, Wash., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- GigOptix is applauding a subcommittee approval of the U.S. Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that includes potential funding for its modulators.

Defense Budget Moving Through Senate

Matthew Potter — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:01:09 +0000

The first Senate subcommittee voted out the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill. It mainly supports Obama's priorities but does set up some conflicts...

HASC Wants To Continue VH-71

Matthew Potter — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:00:31 +0000

In their markup of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill the House Armed Services Committee added money for continued production of the F-22. It also recommended that the Navy and Defense Department continue production of the Increment One of the VH-71 New Presidential Helicopter.

They feel that this would be the best use of the over $3 billion already spent on the program. There is obviously still a requirement for this aircraft and a new program is planned. The HASC wants the first group of VH-71 to be used as “the normal transport for the President…” with other systems looked at for the more stringent requirements. Right now the President uses VH-3 for short range, normal duties and then longer ranged CH-53 and UH-60 for other missions. One of the problems faced by the VH-71 was the attempt to buy one aircraft to do all missions.

Finemeccanica had offered to just deliver Increment One aircraft at reduced price for the total program. Of course these did not meet all of the requirements that the Navy had levied. This was a major reason the program’s cost and schedule increased so much.

So far the HASC markup does not necessarily agree with the Obama Administration’s proposals in the area of the F-22 or the VH-71. The bill still needs to go through the process of other committee markups, the full House and Senate and then the Conference. This means that this language may or not make it to the final version but it does show support for the VH-71 program.

USAF Provides Long Lead Funding for More F-22

Matthew Potter — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:10:52 +0000

The US Department of Defense awarded Lockheed-Martin a contract to begin buying long lead items for four more F-22 aircraft. The Associated Press reports. This funding will allow the production line to stay hot and will let the new, Obama administration decide whether to keep it going. The next step in the production of the aircraft would be to obligate another $140 M next year to continue construction of the aircraft. The current DoD leadership has been going back and forth on how many of the very expensive, but capable F-22′s to buy. Currently there are 183 under contract. Congress has the power to keep the line going through adding money to buy them even if an administration does not request them. Then it would be up to the President to veto the whole Defense Appropriations Bill; which rarely happens as there are items considered critical to running the DoD.

House passes Defense Appropriation Bill

Matthew Potter — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:10:58 +0000

The House of Representatives approved the Defense Appropriations Bill as part of a larger spending law this afternoon. The bill fully funds all of the services as well as providing funding for a variety of other government actions, including a loan of $25 B for the US automakers. Now the Senate needs to approve the bill and a Conference one be worked out to be re-approved by the two parts of the legislature. Until the actual text of the report is read funding for specific programs cannot be identified.

For more on this story see CNNMoney.com.

GigOptix $5M Federal Funding for an On-Chip Polymer Modulator Integrated Photonic Transceiver Development Receives Subcommittee Approval

Business Wire Defense: Contracts News — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GigOptix Inc. (OTCBB:GGOX) today announces that $5 million in government funding for development of its On-Chip polymer modulator Integrated Photonic Transceiver, which was part of the funding request made by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to be included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill, has received the approval of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee last week. This appropriation bill must still receive legislative approval and the signa

UMass Lowell Nanomanufacturing R&D Gains $4 Million in Defense Bill

Business Wire Defense: Contracts News — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

LOWELL, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UMass Lowell will receive $4 million for nanomanufacturing research and development under a defense appropriations bill passed by Congress Saturday and signed by President Obama Monday. “UMass Lowell is the place to go for nanotech-based products that will work in battlefield conditions,” said Chancellor Marty Meehan. “The sensors developed will be the proverbial canary in a coalmine for soldiers – determining whether an area is free of bio