FY17 supplemental funding bill

This thread is NOT about Donald Trump, nor is it political. It is about the supplemental funding bill submitted by the administration that would add to this years budget. Someone in the administration is apparently reading ATS again. This came across yesterday, but really started hitting around today.

The FY17 supplemental budget plan would increase the FY17 budget by $30B. What makes this really interesting is that it includes an 8 fold increase in spending on NGAD. It's not likely that the bill will pass, as it would require lifting the Budget Control Act, which would require 60 senate votes. If it does go through however, the next generation fighter program for the Air Force (F-XX) will see funding go from $21M in the current budget, to $168M under the supplemental bill.

The extra money is needed to keep on the timeline laid out in Air Superiority 2030. Under the 2017 budget, the Air Force was forced to cut the PCA funding. The F/A-XX program will remain at $1.2M.

President Donald Trump is seeking a steep increase in funding this year to develop the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation fighter.
The request is part of the White House’s supplemental budget plan for fiscal 2017, which seeks to boost the Obama administration’s fiscal 2017 defense spending plan by $30 billion overall.

The full supplemental request is very unlikely to pass Congress because it is primarily funded through the base budget, which is subject to Budget Control Act (BCA) caps. Lifting the caps would require 60 votes in the Senate, which the White House is not likely to get.

Still, the proposed investment in the Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter signals the administration’s seriousness about moving quickly to modernize the service’s tactical fighter fleet beyond the stealthy F-35.

aviationweek.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

I, for one, applaud the Reagan method. Pumping a ton of money into the defense industry leads to tens of thousands more jobs for engineers, fabricators, factory workers, and speak nothing of all the new military recruits to operate and maintain the new kit.

The trick is to never actually USE any of the stuff, other than as physical collateral to back up your global political agenda.

I'd much rather see us throwing an extra $150M at F-XX development than see us literally burn it paying for logistics in the Middle East and elsewhere.

It'll be interesting to see what comes of this.

a reply to: Barnalby

I want to see us spend the money to stop killing the guys using the equipment. I don't really care one way or the other if it's ever used, but we're asking a lot of our crews right now, and it's got to be fixed.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Exactly. It's a crying disgrace that our airframes are falling out of the skies due to fatigue and deferred maintenance. That's some Yeltsin-era Russia-level BS.