The Home Appropriations Committee desires the Air Drive to be extra open about the way it manages its multibillion-dollar weapons acquisitions to make sure they’re totally funded and prepared for the subsequent battle.
In a report accompanying the committee’s proposed 2026 protection funds, the committee really helpful that Air Drive Secretary Troy Meink considerably enhance how the service identifies and prioritizes the brand new capabilities it wants to discourage and, if vital, defeat different technologically superior adversaries akin to China on the longer term battlefield.
Home appropriators despatched the draft funds invoice on to the complete chamber in a 36-27 vote June 12, despite the fact that the Pentagon has not but publicly launched its 2026 funds request that lawmakers would sometimes use as a place to begin.
Committee members expressed considerations over how the Air Drive reallocated roughly one-third of the $3.2 billion Congress supplied to proceed growing the high-priority Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile in fiscal 2025.
The committee mentioned the Air Drive has created confusion within the funds course of by grouping the next-generation F-47 fighter and the Collaborative Fight Plane drone wingman program right into a single pot of cash. Lawmakers additionally dinged the service for failing to modernize flight simulators for the B-52 Stratofortress bomber.
As a path ahead, the committee is pushing the Air Drive’s new Built-in Capabilities Command to redefine the service’s wants, develop possible modernization plans, and execute life like acquisitions to assist troops, in response to the report.
The Air Drive stood up a provisional model of the brand new command final fall with the objective of reaching full operations someday this yr. Air Drive Chief of Employees Gen. David Allvin mentioned the objective is to create a unified group that may lead drive modernization efforts and maintain varied branches of the service aligned on the way in which forward.
To keep up oversight, Home appropriators would require Meink to transient each the Home and Senate armed providers committees on the standing and price estimates of standing up the ICC and its subordinate workplaces, the way it would possibly affect present packages and whether or not the strategic basing course of is required for his or her institution.
The committee would additionally require ICC management to supply semi-annual briefings to each appropriations committees on how its workplaces are working to attain strategic modernization, recapitalization, and resourcing for the Air Drive.
Within the brief time period, the committee desires extra particulars on spending choices for Sentinel, echoing considerations of lawmakers on different congressional panels. In early June, Home Armed Companies Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) pressed Air Drive leaders why the service had decreased the $3.2 billion funds for Sentinel by roughly $1.2 billion to fund different packages. He and different lawmakers voiced fear that Sentinel received’t be prepared to interchange the present Minuteman III missiles earlier than they’re too previous to be efficient.
“An adjustment of this magnitude ought to have been accompanied by proactive communications together with sturdy particulars on a rephasing plan,” the Home Appropriations report mentioned.
The committee recommends simply over $2 billion for Sentinel for 2026, as further funds could turn out to be out there by means of reconciliation, the report added. The sweeping tax-and-spending invoice within the works by congressional Republicans may provide as much as $2.5 billion to develop the brand new land-based nuclear missiles.
“Given important price adjustments projected for this effort,” the committee would direct Meink to supply an replace as quickly as doable on the ICBM’s new price ticket in addition to quarterly briefings on program updates and price knowledge.
The committee additionally took difficulty with the Air Drive’s follow of mixing the F-47 and CCAs beneath the Subsequent-Technology Air Dominance, or NGAD, program funding line.
“The co-mingling of two important acquisition packages restricted Congress’ skill to trace how funding was allotted between NGAD and CCA efforts throughout the yr of execution,” the report mentioned. For extra visibility into price and efficiency, the committee really helpful shifting the CCA right into a separate funding line from NGAD.
CCAs are envisioned as artificially clever drone wingmen that may considerably improve airpower whereas taking Airmen out of hurt’s manner. The committee really helpful roughly $495 million for the CCA program in fiscal 2026; one other $678 million could come by means of the reconciliation bundle. That totals $1.2 billion, up from the Air Drive’s $804 million request for CCAs.
Home appropriators really helpful $3.2 billion for F-47 within the base funds, barely decrease than Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned the Air Drive wants for the sixth-generation fighter that may present the service with larger vary and extra superior stealth functionality.
The committee additionally mentioned the Air Drive wants to speculate extra to modernize B-52 flight simulators. It really helpful simply over $26 million for the Air Drive to gather, analyze, and put together flight simulation and modeling for the B-52H.
HAC would require Meink to transient the congressional protection committees on the service’s technique and price estimates to develop, check, and procure modernized B-52H high-fidelity flight simulators.
