16 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

House defense spending bill would give the MQ-9 Reaper drone a second life

By:

WASHINGTON —The House Appropriations Committee is aiming to resuscitate the MQ-9 Reaper program, which the Air Force wants to curtail in fiscal 2021.

The committee's version of the FY21 spending bill, which its defense subcommittee will deliberate Wednesday in a closed hearing, would allocate $344 million for 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones.

The language is a good sign for the aircraft's manufacturer, General Atomics, which stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in sales if the Air Force stopped buying the aircraft. The service in FY20 had planned to buy nine MQ-9s in FY21, 17 in FY22, two in FY23 and three in FY24, but zeroed out all plans to buy additional Reaper drones as part of its FY21 budget request.

However, the Reaper isn't home free just yet. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to unveil its own version of the legislation, leaving it unclear whether the Senate will concur with the House committee's spending bill.

The MQ-9 wasn't the only aircraft program to get a boost from House appropriators. The committee added 12 more F-35s to the budget, for a total of 91 jets and $9.3 billion.

The lawmakers are also planning to authorize $965 million for 11 C-130J aircraft — an increase of two planes — and they boosted the number of V-22 Ospreys tilt-rotor aircraft from nine to 11.

The bill also beefs up the investment for the UH-60 Black Hawk with an additional $141 million, funding a total of 42 helicopters.

The legislation funds three P-8A Poseidon submarine-hunting planes for the Navy Reserve force. Those aircraft were not originally included in the budget. The Navy would get an additional E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, for a total of five planes costing $791 million. The committee also approved $1 billion for nine CH-53K helicopters, two more than the request.

Additionally, the legislation would allow U.S. Special Operations Command to begin its Armed Overwatch Program, but the bill summary did not state how much funding would be allotted in FY21.

The House committee fully funded most other major military aircraft programs, including money for 50 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, five CH-47 Chinook Block II cargo helicopters and long-lead funding for additional Chinooks for the Army.

The Air Force would get 12 F-15EX fighters, 15 KC-46 tankers and 19 HH-60W combat rescue helicopters.

Meanwhile, the Navy's request of 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets was also fully funded by the committee.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/07/08/house-defense-spending-bill-would-give-the-mq-9-reaper-drone-a-second-life

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Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (96.1%); Bremerton, Washington (1.7%); Kings Bay, Georgia (1.7%); and Newport, Rhode Island (0.5%), and is expected to be completed by September 2021. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2025. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funds in the amount of $250,000 (80%); and 2020 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funds in the amount of $63,000 (20%), will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $63,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured and is a sole-source award pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3) – Industrial Mobilization. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Sundance-EA Associates II,* Pocatello, Idaho, is awarded a maximum-value $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for environmental compliance services at Joint Region Marianas, Guam. The work to be performed is for a full range of environmental support activities for naval installation environmental compliance programs to ensure the supported components, tenant commands and facilities and contractor operations demonstrate and maintain compliance with all applicable federal, U.S. territory, and local statutes, and with Department of Defense and Navy policies, permits, instructions and guidance. Environmental compliance programs include clean air, safe drinking water, clean water, hazardous waste, pollution prevention, solid waste management, pesticide compliance, emergency planning and community right-to-know act, ozone-depleting substances management, storage tank management, environmental quality assessment, environmental sampling and analysis and overall environmental compliance oversight. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operation and maintenance (Navy) funds. Work will be performed in the Joint Region Marianas area of responsibility and is expected to be completed by January 2026. Work under the initial task order will be performed in Guam and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,447,016 will be obligated under the initial task order at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website, with six proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Marianas, Guam, is the contracting activity (N40192-21-D-1820). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $29,776,196 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-21-F-0064) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0005. This order procures five aerial refueling retrofit kits and installation on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. Work will be performed in Ronkonkoma, New York (44.53%); Baltimore, Maryland (16.62%); Irvine, California (6.48%); Hauppauge, New York (5.85%); Columbia, Maryland (4.75%); Dorset, England (3.17%); East Aurora, New York (2.64%); North Hollywood, California (2.02%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (13.94%), and is expected to be completed in May 2022. 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ARMY Transportation Management Services Inc., Sandy Spring, Maryland, was awarded a $13,874,720 firm-fixed-price contract to provide transportation services throughout the National Capital Region from Jan.16, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2021. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (National Guard) funds in the amount of $13,874,720 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army National Guard Bureau, Operational Contracting Division, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W912R1-21-F-0002). *Small business **Mandatory source https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2476202/source/GovDelivery/

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