A proposed defense spending bill the House of Representatives released Tuesday would fund eight more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in fiscal 2025 than the military originally planned.
The Pentagon’s budget request earlier this 12 months included money to purchase 68 F-35s — 42 F-35As for the Air Force, and 13 F-35Bs and 13 F-35Cs for the Navy and Marine Corps.
However the House Appropriations defense subcommittee’s draft spending bill would add two more F-35As to the Air Force’s purchase, and 6 more F-35Cs, for a complete of 76 jets. The variety of F-35Bs the Marine Corps would buy would remain unchanged under this appropriations bill.
The plan to extend F-35 purchases within the proposed defense appropriations bill would differ from the House’s proposed National Defense Authorization Act, which might cut the variety of F-35 purchases by as much as 20.
The NDAA, which the House Armed Services Committee approved last month, would first cut the Pentagon’s F-35 purchases right down to 58, after which prevent the military from accepting delivery of one other 10 jets until it certifies several problems with the jet are fixed.
HASC lawmakers are growing impatient with the F-35 program and manufacturer Lockheed Martin over problems equivalent to delays in its Technology Refresh 3 upgrades, which have halted deliveries of the latest jets for nearly a 12 months. HASC staffers told reporters in May that the roughly $1 billion saved by cutting the primary 10 F-35s can be reinvested to make sure the jets work properly once they roll out of Lockheed’s factory.
The defense appropriations bill would also provide funding for 15 KC-46 Pegasus aircraft, eight MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopters, and 18 F-15EX Eagle II fighters, because the Air Force requested in March. The Air Force had originally expected to purchase 48 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs in 2025.
And the appropriations bill would offer the Air Force $120 million to purchase two more HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopters in 2025. The Air Force has sought to curtail its HH-60W buy and cap it at 75, down from 113, arguing that the helicopters wouldn’t be survivable in a future war against a complicated adversary equivalent to China.
Lawmakers would also provide the Air Force $400 million to hurry up the delivery of Boeing’s E-7 aircraft, known in other countries because the Wedgetail, which is supposed to interchange the aging E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS.
The appropriations bill also proposes $1.9 billion in procurement funds for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, and $2.7 billion in research, development, test and evaluation funds to proceed the bomber’s development. One other $2.1 billion in RDT&E funds would go to developing and modernizing the F-35.
The Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter program would get $3.3 billion for development, consistent with the service’s request, and nearly $493 million in RDT&E funds for its Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile.
The Air Force would also receive $3.4 billion to proceed developing the LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile, which is supposed to interchange the decades-old Minuteman III.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.