Senate Panel Funds Ships, Drones Military Doesn’t Want

Maintenance techs perform inspections on a Global Hawk Block 30 surveillance drone. The Air Force wants to stop buying it; a key Senate panel wants to keep the cash flowing. Photo: U.S. Air Force

For the first time in over a decade, the Pentagon’s budget has to shrink, thanks to a deal to cut the deficit that Congress and President Obama struck last year. Yet a key Senate panel voted on Thursday to fund big-ticket hardware — ships, cargo planes and drones among them — that the U.S. military is trying to get rid of in the name of saving cash. When the Pentagon rolled out its requested budget in February, there were some conspicuous absences. The a version of the Air Force’s high-flying Global Hawk surveillance drone, known as the Block 30, was chopped. So was the C-27J, a propeller-driven cargo plane used for Afghanistan. For its part, the Navy opted to retire nine old ships and reroute the cash it would take to modernize them into other priorities.
If the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the two most powerful in Congress, gets its way, that’s all out the door. On Thursday, the committee voted to approve a $604.5 billion defense budget for the next fiscal year. It’s about $100 million less than what the Obama administration asked for. But it still includes money for the Global Hawk Block 30; the C-27J; and those nine old Navy ships.


Read More......................