Senate clashes with House on Joint Cargo Aircraft

Senate and House appropriators could be headed for a clash over the Joint Cargo Aircraft — a program shared by the Army and the Air Force.

Senate defense appropriators on Wednesday fully funded the Army’s request for the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA), and only tinkered with the Air Force’s portion of the program. That contrasts with the decision by House defense appropriators to slash all funding for the Air Force and cut funding for three of the seven JCA aircraft the Army requested for procurement in 2009.

{mosads}House appropriators said production on the JCA — also known as the C-27J — has fallen behind schedule by a year, adding that it was not necessary to fully fund the Army’s request. They also argued the Air Force showed no justification it actually needed the planes.

Senate defense appropriators, however, made no reference to a delay in production and fully funded the $264.1 million for the JCA.

Separately, however, Senate appropriators gave no procurement money to the Air Force and cut the Air Force’s request for research and development by $10 million, according to information obtained by The Hill.

The Senate panel’s markup had not been made public by press time.

The House’s cuts to the JCA have sent shudders through the defense industry and National Guard. The cargo plane will primarily be flown by the Army and Air Force National Guard.

If the House cuts to the Air Force portion of the program became law, it could hurt Air Force flying units already cut as part of the 2005 base realignment and closure round.

JCA contractors — a team of L-3 Communications and Alenia North America — are fighting back against the House's notion that production of the JCA is delayed. They praised Senate appropriators for not cutting into the program.

“There is no production delay for the JCA program and we remain on schedule,” said an Alenia North America spokesman. “We are pleased that the SAC-D [Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee] has moved to fully fund the JCA program. We strongly disagree with the HAC-D's [House Appropriations Defense subcommittee] justification for reducing the number of aircraft funded for the Army.”

The House panel, in the justification to its markup, had said it was cutting the JCA funding to $151 million because production of four aircraft funded in 2008 had fallen behind by one year.

But according to the Army’s plan and the contract with L-3 and Alenia, the first two aircraft were supposed to be delivered in the fall of 2008. Those will be delivered on schedule, according to the contractors. Any follow-on orders will have to be completed in 18 to 24 months, according to the contract. That means that the aircraft ordered in 2008 would be delivered in 2010.

The program’s launch was delayed because Raytheon, which also competed for the contract, had disputed the award with the Government Accountability Office. It was further delayed for a few months because the Pentagon and Air Force were late in submitting several reports on its fleet requirements to Congress.

None of those delays, however, affected the order and production schedule, according to the contractors.

Overall, the Senate panel approved a $487.7 billion defense appropriations bill — $4 billion below the president’s request. The full committee has yet to mark up the bill. It is yet unclear whether Congress will pass the defense-spending bill before it recesses for election season.