Congress Wants More Money For The F-35

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Defense News: House Lawmakers Push for More F-35 Funding in FY17 Budget

WASHINGTON — The defense-policy and -spending bills are at a standstill on Capitol Hill, but 70 House lawmakers are hoping that when Congress returns after the election, they can press appropriators to boost the total F-35 purchase for fiscal year 2017.

In an Oct. 4 letter to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-NJ, and the subcommittee’s top Democrat, Rep. Pete Visclosky of Indiana, the lawmakers advocated for F-35 production increases, citing the impact such a move would have on lowering unit costs.

Both the Senate and House appropriations bills increased joint strike fighter procurement over the levels requested in the budget. The House bill added 11 F-35s—five F-35As, four F-35Cs and two F-35Bs—numbers that would satisfy the services’ “unfunded priorities” list. The Senate took a different tactic, opting instead to augment procurement by adding two more F-35Bs and two F-35Cs in 2017 while also increasing F-35A advance procurement by $100 million, a move that allows the Air Force to increase its production rate in 2018.

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More News On The F-35

70 lawmakers press for 11 more F-35s in defense spending bill -- Washington Examiner
Report: F-35 Is Now Training with F-15s, A-10 Warthogs and Navy Seals -- National Interest
Lockheed says it wants Japan to do more work on the F-35 -- Reuters
Grounded F-35 fighters seen back in the air in November: Norway -- Reuters
F-35 Stealth Fighter Tests ‘Aircraft Killer’ Missiles -- National Interest
Air Force’s F-35 Flight Operations to Resume by Year’s End -- Executive Biz
An overview of the F-35 as a flying combat system -- Second Line Of Defense