The big shocker today in the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee mark-up hasn't yet been widely reported.
The Senate panel voted to lift the ban on retiring the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin C-5As, which are described in the press release as "aging, hard to maintain and often broken". For five years, the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy and now-Vice President Joe Biden blocked the US Air Force's attempts to retire C-5As and buy new C-17s. If the retirement ban is lifted in the final version of the bill, USAF will be allowed to retire as many as 59 C-5As currently in the fleet. Those C-5As could be replaced by an equal number of C-17s.
Winners:
+ 10 C-17s
+ 2 HH-60 helicopters
+ $522 million for F-22 modernization initiatives
+ 79.3 million for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) for RQ-4 Global Hawk
+ $50 million to continue developing Radar Technology Insertion Program for "large aircraft"
Losers:
- F-35 alternate engine (General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136)
- C-5A retirement ban lifted
- CSAR-X terminated, funding transferred to "HH-60 replacement helicopters"
- F-22 terminated
- Presidential helicopter terminated
- 6 deferred UH-1Y/AH-1Z helicopters
- funding deferred for C-130 Avionics Modernization Program
Unknown:
The Senate panel voted to lift the ban on retiring the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin C-5As, which are described in the press release as "aging, hard to maintain and often broken". For five years, the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy and now-Vice President Joe Biden blocked the US Air Force's attempts to retire C-5As and buy new C-17s. If the retirement ban is lifted in the final version of the bill, USAF will be allowed to retire as many as 59 C-5As currently in the fleet. Those C-5As could be replaced by an equal number of C-17s.
Winners:
+ 10 C-17s
+ 2 HH-60 helicopters
+ $522 million for F-22 modernization initiatives
+ 79.3 million for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) for RQ-4 Global Hawk
+ $50 million to continue developing Radar Technology Insertion Program for "large aircraft"
Losers:
- F-35 alternate engine (General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136)
- C-5A retirement ban lifted
- CSAR-X terminated, funding transferred to "HH-60 replacement helicopters"
- F-22 terminated
- Presidential helicopter terminated
- 6 deferred UH-1Y/AH-1Z helicopters
- funding deferred for C-130 Avionics Modernization Program
Unknown:
- Status of F/A-18E/F purchase
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