Despite having threatened to veto the U.S. government’s FY2018 spending bill earlier in the morning, President Trump signed the delayed $1.3 trillion budget into law on March 23 after six months of political wrangling. More than half of the money—$700 billion—is allocated to the defense budget, up $61 billion on FY2017 and representing the largest increase in 15 years.
While the additional money is immediately welcome news to the U.S. armed forces, which have been struggling with uncertain funding and resultant training/maintenance issues, it is also good news to the U.S. aerospace industry, which is to receive orders that are significantly increased on what it was expecting from the Pentagon’s budgetary request. In passing the bill, Congress appropriated $44 billion for the procurement of 143 aircraft, some 27.5 percent above the funding necessary to pay for the Pentagon’s initial request.
Unsurprisingly, it is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program that is the principal beneficiary. Congress has added 20 additional aircraft worth $2.9 billion to the 70 already asked for. They will be divided among 10 F-35As for the Air Force, four F-35Bs for the Marine Corps and six F-35Cs for the Navy. Overall the government will spend $10.2 billion on the 90 F-35s it is buying, including spare parts and engines.
Another program to receive a boost is the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The Pentagon had asked for 14 new fighters for the Navy, but will now get 24 for a total spend of $1.8 billion. Despite being dogged by technical issues and delivery delays, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker/transport program has been allocated additional funding, with three more aircraft added to the 15 already requested.
Lockheed Martin will benefit from the request for nine C-130J Hercules being boosted to 25, worth a total of $2.4 billion. The extra 16 aircraft are comprised of six C-130J transports for the Air National Guard, five MC-130Js for Special Operations Command, one HC-130J rescue platform for the Air Force and four KC-130J tankers for the Marine Corps.
Also included in the budget is an allocation to restart the production of new wings for the A-10C Warthog. Funding had earlier been allocated to re-wing about 60 percent of the fleet of approximately 280 aircraft, the wing sets being built by Boeing with the installation being performed by the Air Force at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill AFB, Utah. That contract is almost complete, and a new tender process is expected to cover the follow-on contract.