Congress Also Authorizes More Money For Second F-35 Powerplant

With much of the nation's attention on Congress focused on the controversial $700 billion corporate bailout plan, a $487.7 billion defense spending bill slipped through the House last week almost unnoticed.

The Wall Street Journal reports the funding plan -- which passed Senate muster this weekend, and is now on its way to President Bush for his signature -- is part of a larger continuing resolution to keep the Department of Defense operational.

It does more than that, though. The spending bill actually increases the budgets for almost all major DoD programs, including Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor and the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

The bill calls for an additional $523 million for the Raptor, on top of the $2.9 billion requested by the White House earlier this year. The added funds will keep production going through the US Air Force's original 183-plane order, with enough left over to extend production should the next Presidential administration opt to add more planes.

The Osprey tiltrotor program also receives a boost, with $2.7 billion authorized for Bell-Boeing to assemble 36 aircraft.

As expected, the defense bill also includes funds for General Electric to develop a second powerplant alternative for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. As ANN reported, GE has fought with the Pentagon for such funding for the past three years; each time, lawmakers have voted to develop a competitor to Pratt & Whitney's F135 turbofan.

Lawmakers also set aside $835 million for the troubled Lockheed VH-71 program, to build the initial batch of three new Marine One presidential helicopters... but declined to provide money for the remaining 23, more advanced helos.

Despite the bumps for several high-profile programs, overall Congress approved about $4 billion less than the White House requested. During a speech last week, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said the bill "addresses our future military needs and provides the resources urgently needed" to provide for current military programs, while also preparing for future needs.

FMI: www.congress.gov, www.defenselink.mil