The procurement plus-up primarily favors aircraft for all three services, as well as the Navy's shipbuilding account. Overall, the Air Force gains $653.7 million for procurement, the Navy gains $193.9 million, and the Army receives a small $34.2 million boost. In traditional fashion, the bill adds $950 million for National Guard and Reserve equipment.

The bill adds nine HH-60M helicopters for the Army National Guard, as well as five CH-47F Block II helicopters. The Army hasn't funded the Block II upgrade for active duty CH-47F in its last two budget requests. The committee wishes to extend Super Hornet production for the Navy, and the bill adds 12 F/A-18E/Fs. The legislation also adds two CH-53K helicopters and two MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles for the Marine Corps, as well as one MQ-4C for the Navy. Funding for Navy aircraft modifications is also increased by $321.3 million. Major aircraft additions for the Air Force are four C-130Js for the Reserve and four MQ-9 Reapers. The bill also adds $282 million for Air Force aircraft modifications. The legislation doesn't include any additional F-35 aircraft.

The committee adds $1.5 billion for a second DDG 51 class destroyer that was removed from the Navy's budget request. However the bill eliminates one of two Towing, Salvage, and Rescue ships (T-ATS), reflecting a cut of $97 million.

Army gains seven Paladins and $100 million for HMMWVs for the National Guard, but loses $41.7 million for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle and $49 million for Stryker upgrades. The bill also cuts $215.5 million for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), citing the funding as ahead of need.

The Navy once again didn't request any Tomahawk cruise missiles in FY22, but the bill adds 10 Tomahawks. However, the legislation cuts all 25 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), as well as some funding for the SM-6, Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), and the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM). Lawmakers recommend cutting $44 million for initial production of hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapons (ARRW) due to the risk of concurrency at this stage in the program. This reduction reflects a cut of four missiles.

Within the RDT&E account, legislation cuts $1.9 billion for the Navy but nearly $1 billion of that cut reflects funding for the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) software development program that was transferred outside of the RDT&E account. The service loses $42 million for Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles and $87.3 million for unmanned surface vehicle enabling capabilities, as well as $74.6 million for DDG(X) development. The service requested $5.2 million in development funding for the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N), which is zeroed out in the House markup. Navy budget guidance for the future FY23 request has already hinted at scrapping the SLCM-N program. The bill also cuts $97 million for the hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike program, which is being developed in coordination with the Army. Air Force funding is reduced by $614 million. Notable cuts in the service's research and development account include $28 million for the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) weapon, $35.8 million for the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter, $61.6 million for the VC-25B due to program delays, and $55 million for the B-52 engine replacement effort due to a contract delay. However, the service gains $55 million for materials applied research, $112.9 million for manufacturing technology, and $57 million for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). The Army receives a $581.8 million boost in the House markup. The plus-up includes, but is not limited to, $169.5 million for ground technology programs, $113.1 million for Next Generation Combat Vehicle development, $25 million for the extended-range hypervelocity projectile, $25 million for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL), and $65 million for the Abrams tank.

An extra $381.6 million is also provided for Defense-Wide agencies. The bill adds $75 million for the Homeland Defense Radar - Hawaii (HDR-H), for which the Pentagon has not requested funding in its past two budgets. The stability and security of the microelectronics supply chain has become a critical issue for the DoD, so it comes as no surprise that the House bill adds $86.5 million for trusted and assured microelectronics.

Complete details of the House Appropriations Committee's markup of the FY22 defense spending bill can be viewed on Forecast International's U.S. Defense Budget Forecast. Product information is available using the link below.

Source:  Forecast International - International Military Markets
Associated URL: Click here to visit
Author: s. McDougall, Defense Analyst 

"UTair is a major operator of Russian-made helicopters, and today's agreement is aimed to systematically update and expand the company’s fleet. One of the terms of the agreement is to further improve the efficiency of aircraft operations and enable flights with two crewmen. This option is implemented on another helicopter, the modern Mi-171A2. UTair was the first operator of this model", noted Andrey Boginsky.

The Mi-8AMT helicopter can be used to transport up to 27 passengers, or 4 tons of goods inside the cargo bay or on an external sling. Thanks to a wide range of additional equipment available for Mi-8AMT, it can be modified into in cargo, passenger, firefighting, ambulance, search and rescue and emergency rescue variants.

"We are planning to use 50 helicopters in the latest modification to perform passenger and cargo transportation within the oil and gas projects of our customers, primarily in the Vostok Oil project of PJSC NK Rosneft. Most of our helicopter operations in difficult climatic conditions are flown with domestic models produced by Russian Helicopters. Together, we have managed to develop a unique helicopter model with the highest level of flight safety at the lowest price for heavy helicopters on the global market. UTair already operates over a hundred helicopters of the modern Mi-17 series. The upcoming batch of 50 helicopters is an important extension of our fleet management plan, as outlined in the company’s financial model. The updated fleet of helicopters will create many new jobs for pilots, engineers and ground service workers", said Andrey Martirosov.

The International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2021 is held between July 20 - 25 in the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow. The event is organized by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec State Corporation. MAKS-2019 was organized by Aviasalon JSC. The cost of contracts and agreements signed during the days of the show exceeded 250 billion rubles, the business potential of the event is estimated at 400 billion rubles.

Source:  Rostec
Associated URL: rostec.ru

Based in Eagle Farm, Brisbane, RBI Hawker Australia, will provide advanced helicopter rotor blade repair on all Bell helicopter models and Leonardo AW139 and AW109 models. RBI Hawker Australia recently received Part 145 maintenance organization approval from the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for its new 1,000-square-meter facility in Brisbane, which enables the company to commence operations.

RBI Hawker Limited, a joint venture between Hawker Pacific Airservices Ltd, a Jet Aviation company, and Bell, is a world-class helicopter rotor blade repair and overhaul company with facilities in the Middle East and Australia serving both government and commercial helicopter operators.

"With our Part 145 approval from CASA and appointment as a Bell Customer Service Facility, we are excited to provide greater access to high-quality rotary blade repair services for government and commercial helicopter operators in the region," said Ian D’Arcy, vice president, North East Asia for Jet Aviation.

Source:  Bell Textron Inc.