{"id":42191,"date":"2018-06-26T15:34:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T15:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/26\/pentagon-money-bill-with-heavy-rampd-accent-passes-senate-subpanel\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:24:39","slug":"pentagon-money-bill-with-heavy-rampd-accent-passes-senate-subpanel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/06\/26\/pentagon-money-bill-with-heavy-rampd-accent-passes-senate-subpanel\/","title":{"rendered":"Will $95B for R&D make its way to the final defense appropriations bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Senate defense appropriators have advanced a proposed $675 billion Pentagon spending<\/a> measure for 2019, touting its heavy investment in innovation and research<\/a> to maintain America\u2019s military edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hewing to the bipartisan, two-year budget deal, the spending bill includes $607.1 billion in base budget funding and $67.9 billion in the war budget. It is $20.4 billion higher than the fiscal 2018-enacted level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill contains $95 billion for research and development, the largest R&D budget in the Pentagon\u2019s history, adjusted for inflation, according to Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill. The bill also includes $2.8 billion in added basic research funding the president\u2019s budget did not request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill also seems to surpass the Senate-passed policy bill\u2019s emphasis on future warfare, with $929 million for hypersonics, $564 million to develop advanced offensive and defensive space capabilities, $317 million to develop a directed-energy weapon, and $308 million for artificial intelligence, according to a summary<\/a> released Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis bill sustains U.S. force structure and improves military readiness. It also recommends investments in future technologies needed to defend our nation in an increasingly complex and competitive national security environment,\u201d said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who also leads the sub-panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur military must maintain its technological superiority. I am pleased that our subcommittee has identified the resources needed to make that happen \u2015 investing in basic research, hypersonics, directed energy, missile defense, cybersecurity, and our test and evaluation infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation programs would get $42 billion, to include $1.2 billion for eight F-35 carrier variants and four short takeoff and vertical landing Joint Strike Fighters, and it includes $375 million for the Air Force\u2019s Advanced Battle Management System \u2014 as well as sustainment of the legacy fleet of JSTARS aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill allocates $24 billion toward shipbuilding, which includes two Virginia-class summaries, three DDG-51 destroyers and two littoral combat ships. There\u2019s $250 in advance procurement funding for one more DDG-51 in 2020 and $250 million for submarine industrial-base expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munitions would get $18.5 billion, with $125 million to expand procurement for the anti-ship cruise missile LRASM for the Navy, and the JASSM long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision-standoff missile for the Air Force and Navy, as well as $57 million for Army industrial facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For personnel, the bill supports a military pay raise of 2.6 percent and includes $974 million for defense medical research. The bill\u2019s end-strength boost of 6,961 falls below the president\u2019s request for 25,900 more troops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spending bill is several steps from becoming law. The House is due to take up its version of the legislation this week, and the Senate must pass its version of the bill before the two versions are reconciled. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is set to hold its markup on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t