The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel provided $604.5 billion for the Defense Department next fiscal year in its July 31 mark-up of the President’s Fiscal 2013 defense spending proposal. That total allocation includes $511.2 billion for the Pentagon’s base activities and $93.3 billion to fund overseas contingency operations like the war in Afghanistan, according to the panel’s mark-up summary. Those numbers are “equivalent” to the Defense Department’s requests, stated Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), panel chairman, in his mark-up statement. By comparison, House appropriators in May approved $519.2 billion in Pentagon base funding and $88.5 billion for OCO. Among the Air Force-related highlights, the Senate panel supported the request for 19 F-35A strike fighters; “fully” funded next-generation bomber and prompt global strike development; added $260 million for Air National Guard weapons systems sustainment; restored $100 million for the Operationally Responsive Space program and $35 million for the Space Test Program; bumped up C-130J procurement funding by $180 million for “efficient production”; and “fully” funded MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft procurement, including two combat loss replacements.
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…