• 01 May 2024 07:40 PM
• 0

Washington Report, May/June 2024

FAA Reauthorization Extended
On March 8, US President Joe Biden signed legislation that temporarily extended the operating authority for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until May 10. The bill, HR.7454, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2024, is the third time Congress extended the FAA’s authority since September, the end of fiscal year 2023 (FY23), when the FAA’s operating authority expired. The extension granted Congressional negotiators more time to finalize legislation reauthorizing the FAA for the next five years. In early February, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation overcame internal policy differences to pass its reauthorization bill, though it has yet to receive a vote by the full Senate as of press time (see “Washington Report,” Vertiflite, March/April 2024). Once the Senate votes on the legislation, negotiators from the Senate and House of Representatives, which passed its version of the reauthorization in July 2023, will need to resolve the differences between the respective bills.

Fiscal 2024 Bill Funds FAA, NASA
On March 9, Biden signed into law HR.4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, after the US House of Representatives and Senate passed the legislation in the preceding days. The “minibus” consolidated appropriations bill provided FY24 funding for multiple US federal agencies and departments, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the FAA, which is part of the Department of Transportation. The bill’s passage came six months into the fiscal year and averted a partial government shutdown.

Congressional appropriators provided the FAA with $20.3B in funding for FY24, a 7% increase over the enacted FY23 budget. One of the items included in the FY24 appropriations bill is $6M to establish a vertiport for electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The FY24 appropriations bill provides NASA with $24.9B in funding, a 2% decline from the enacted FY23 budget and 8.5% reduction from the agency’s request for FY24. In the bill, appropriators encouraged NASA to continue its support of the Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence (VLRCOEs) for university research (see “VLRCOEs: The Product is the People,” pg. 50) and required NASA to submit a report to Congress on its work with industry, academia and government. The bill funds NASA’s request for advanced air mobility (AAM) and encourages NASA to prioritize work on electric propulsion and advanced technologies for sustainable aviation.

Fiscal 2024 Defense Bill Boosts Vertical Flight
On Saturday, March 23, President Biden signed HR.2882, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, into law after the House of Representatives and Senate passed the legislation earlier that week. The FY24 spending package contains $825B in defense spending, a reduction of $17B from President Biden’s request and an $8B increase compared to the FY23 enacted defense budget. It comes approximately six months into FY24, which began in September, and just over a year after the Biden administration released its 2024 budget request (see “Washington Report,” Vertiflite, May/June 2023).

The US Department of Defense (DoD) secured a substantial boost in funding for rotorcraft in the FY24 defense appropriations legislation. A preliminary analysis of the explanatory statement that accompanied the defense appropriations bill indicates that Congress added approximately $1.67B to the DoD’s procurement and research and development (R&D) budgets for vertical flight aircraft, a 26% increase over the request. As a result, the DoD will purchase an estimated 23 more rotorcraft in FY24 than it had planned.

In one of the most significant changes by appropriators to the defense budget, the US Navy secured an additional $675M for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The funding provides for five additional CMV-22s. In doing so, Congress blocked the Navy’s planned shutdown of the Osprey production line, calling the move “early to need” (too soon). With this boost in funding, the V-22 budget in FY24 will exceed that of FY23 by 21%.

Congress more than doubled the Army’s procurement budget for the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, adding $221.4M for six additional helicopters and funding for special operations. Congress appropriated an additional $30M for modifications to the CH-47 and $11M in R&D work on the Chinook.

In a $60M increase to its procurement budget, the Army secured additional examples of the Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks for the National Guard. The Army also secured an additional $20.5M in upgrades to the UH-60 and $38.5M more for the Black Hawk Improvement Program for work on a “Mike” Model Block II development and the UH-60’s rotor blades. Elsewhere, appropriators cut $65M from the Army’s procurement budget for the Boeing AH-64 Apache, though it added $13M for efforts to modernize the aircraft. Congress also added $10M for the Army’s Airbus UH-72 Lakota Light Utility Helicopter.

Congress eliminated the Army’s planned purchase of four Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) systems, a $53.5M reduction to the Army’s replacement for the Textron RQ-7 Shadow. In doing so, appropriators pushed back on the Army’s plan to purchase its initial set of FTUAS Increment 2 systems, calling Increment 2 “early to need.” Congress did, however, add $14M to the Army’s research and development budget for the FTUAS.

Appropriators awarded the Air Force an additional $315M for the Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green II, a variant of the Black Hawk, doubling its procurement budget for the aircraft. The additional funds will procure 10 of the combat rescue helicopters. The change reflects the Congress’ ongoing resistance to the Air Force’s plan to end production of the Jolly Green and reduce the total fleet size. The Air Force, which had not sought to purchase any new HH-60Ws in FY25, is concerned about the survivability of the HH-60W in contested environments.

Appropriators added $64.8M to the Army’s funding for the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Advanced Technology program, increasing its budget in FY24 by 41% to $223.6M. This funding will be divided between 11 research priorities, including $20M for rotor blade efficiency enhancements. Congress also added $25.5M for the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Technology line for five different projects, including $10M for work on a high-density electric VTOL power source.

In addition to the larger programs, appropriators added funds for various research projects involving VTOL aircraft and hybrid and hybrid-electric propulsion. For the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Congress added $23M for work on an autonomous vertical lift aircraft for air logistics. For the Air Force, Congress added $30M for work on hybrid-electric propulsion and $10M for reconfigurable hybrid-electric rotorcraft. For the Marine Corps, Congress added $9.8M for advanced batteries for cargo drones and $9.8M for the development of a hybrid-electric engine.

Pentagon Releases Fiscal 2025 Budget Request
On March 11, the Biden administration submitted its FY25 budget request to Congress. The administration’s request includes $849.8B for the DoD, a 1% increase over the DoD’s FY24 request and 3% increase over the enacted FY24 defense budget.

Navy and Air Force funding for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft is set to decline in FY25 to $538.8M, a consequence of the planned shutdown of the MV-22 and CMV-22 production lines. Neither the Navy nor the Air Force requested additional airframes in FY25, though Congress may choose to add them as it did in the FY24 appropriations legislation (right).

The Army is set to spend $659.9M on the Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, largely on purchases of 31 remanufactured Longbow Apache, a decline from 42 aircraft in FY24. It will be the fourth and final year of a multiyear procurement contract for the AH-64E.

The Army requested $792M for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter. In FY25, the Army is seeking to procure 24 aircraft—nine UH-60M and 15 HH-60M helicopters—in what will be the fourth year of a five-year procurement contract.

Absent from the FY25 request is funding for conversions to the upgraded UH-60V model, the development of which the Army cancelled in its Aviation Investment Rebalance in February (see “FARA Falls,” Vertiflite, March/April 2024). Instead, the Army is planning a new multiyear production of the UH-60M in FY27, when the production of the aircraft was originally expected to cease. The FY25 request also includes $25M in R&D funding for the Black Hawk, reenergizing the dormant Black Hawk Product Improvement Program. “[W]e’re going to continue to operate and man that platform for many, many years to come,” said Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo in a March 11 budget briefing.

In its Aviation Investment Rebalance announcement in February, the Army said it intended to delay the production and introduction of the GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), which is expected to power future AH-64 and UH-60 aircraft. The FY25 budget includes $67M for the ITEP program, which is down from $201M in FY24 and around half of the amount it had previously planned on spending on ITEP in the upcoming fiscal year.

The Army requested $729M for the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter in its FY25 proposed budget. It is seeking to spend $176M to procure four MH-47G for Army Special Operations Aviation and $465M on six renewed CH-47F Block II airframes, as well as $39M on CH-47F Block I fleet digital cockpit support and sustainment.

The Army is seeking $1.26B for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) in FY25, an increase of around $216M over the FY24 request and around double that of FY23. In its budget proposal, the Army attributes the increase in spending to higher material and labor costs associated with engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the FLRAA aircraft prototypes. The FLRAA EMD contract, part of the overarching FVL initiative, was awarded to Bell for its V-280 Valor tiltrotor in December 2022.

The Navy is seeking $2.69B for the Marine Corps’ Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, of which the vast majority will go towards procuring 19 of the heavy-lift helicopters. The upcoming fiscal year is set to be the first of a two-year block buy contract for airframes and of a five-year multiyear contract for engines. Compared with FY24, the Marine Corps is set to purchase four more aircraft, the cost of which is offset by a planned $136M or 60% reduction in R&D funding for the CH-53K.

The Air Force requested $333M for the Boeing MH-139A Grey Wolf, a variant of the Leonardo AW139 and a replacement for the Bell UH-1N. The FY25 request represents a 21% increase over the FY24 request and will largely go towards procuring eight helicopters, one more than in the prior year.

However, with the release of the FY25 budget, the Air Force revealed a dramatic reduction in the number of MH-139As it is seeking to purchase over the life of the program, cutting it from 80 to 42. In the years after FY25, the Air Force expects to purchase just eight MH-139As, instead of the 46 previously planned for this period.

The Air Force had planned on using the MH-139As to accomplish two primary missions: base and convoy security at ICBM bases, and contingency response and executive transportation, namely around Washington, DC. With these cuts, the Air Force reportedly intends to focus solely on the nuclear security mission, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. Deployments at other locations, like the previously planned Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, will be cancelled.

The Air Force requested $243.9M for the Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green Combat Rescue Helicopter, which it intends to spend largely on training devices, contractor support and depot standup activities. It remains to be seen whether Congress, as it has in FY23 and FY24, will ignore the Air Force’s planned shutdown of the HH-60W production line and add Jolly Green II airframes to its procurement budget.