Point sur le finacement des programmes américain pour FY2010

Fate Of Second F-35 Engine Nears

Sep 11, 2009



Graham Warwick graham_warwick@aviationweek.com



The fate of the F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be the central issue of debate when House and Senate negotiators meet in conference late this month or early in October to finalize the fiscal 2010 U.S. defense budget.

The Senate appropriations committee set the stage for the showdown on Sept. 10 when it approved the defense subcommittee's mark-up of the bill, which omits money for the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine but fully funds F-35 procurement.

The House appropriations committee had previously added $560 million to their mark-up to fund continued development and initial procurement of the F136, while cutting two aircraft from the Pentagon's request for 30 F-35s to save $538 million.

The standoff has sparked a frenzy of lobbying from both sides, with Pratt & Whitney striving to defend its position as primary and only supplier of JSF engines. With the House firmly backing a second engine, the focus is on the Senate, which has so far heeded threats from the Obama administration to veto the defense budget if it funds the second engine at the expense of the baseline F-35 program.

The JSF engine is not the only area of disagreement conferees face, providing plenty of room for horse-trading. Both sides bowed to administration demands that F-22 procurement be terminated, but they defied the Pentagon in providing funds for more C-17s to keep the line open: the Senate adding 10 and House just three.

The House also added $400 million to make five already-built VH-71 Increment 1 presidential helicopters operational, while the Senate supported the administration's decision to terminate the program and provided money to begin a new competition.

Both sides supported the Pentagon's cancellation of the CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue helicopter program, and added money to procure new HH-60Ms for the U.S. Air Force, with the House adding five and Senate two.

While the Senate funded the administration's requests for procurement of nine F/A-18E/Fs, 22 EA-18Gs and two E-2Ds for the U.S. Navy, the House added money for an additional nine F/A-18E/Fs and one more E-2D. Both cut procurement of UH-1Ys and AH-1Zs for the U.S. Marine Corps -- the House by four and Senate by six -- citing operational readiness concerns.

Additionally, the House trimmed the number of CH-47s for the U.S. Army, citing earlier overprocurement, and cut funding of RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft for the Air Force to just two, from five, where the Senate fully funded the Pentagon's requests.