On Sept. 10, the full Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously agreed with the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill proposed by its defense panel, which opted to add funds for 10 additional C-17s and kill the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. Although the Senate appropriations bill contains no funds to continue production of the F-22 fighter—also killed in House spending bill—the lawmakers did include a provision to push forward with an export version, urging USAF to “start this effort” within funds appropriated for continued F-22 RDT&E. CongressDaily reports that a Senate aide calls this “a good next step,” toward removing the Obey amendment that prohibits F-22 export. (Conference report)
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
