Washington
—
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up a 2008 defense spending bill Sept. 12 that applies the brakes to two of the U.S. Air Force’s biggest satellite development
programs, the Transformational Satellite Communications system (T-Sat) and the GPS 3
navigation system.
The committee also directed
the Air Force to buy a fourth satellite under T-Sat’s predecessor program, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, and added $125 million to the AEHF budget for that purpose. Current Air Force plans call for buying three AEHF satellites before moving on to T-Sat.
In its version of the defense appropriations bill, the House also added $125 million to the White House’s AEHF request and directed that the money go toward a fourth satellite. The Senate committee’s action makes it likely that the final version of the 2008 appropriations bill will direct the Air Force to begin procurement of a fourth AEHF satellite.
The Senate committee
slashed $200 million from the president’s budget request for
T-Sat, saying in the report accompanying the bill that the
program should be slowed down to ensure that it is “fiscally and technically executable.”
Budget request estimates project
T-Sat
, featuring satellites equipped with laser links and Internet Protocol router technology, will
cost $11.4 billion from
2008 through 2013, the Senate report says. Recent
history suggests, however,
that figure will wind up being
significantly higher, report language says
.
On GPS 3,
the panel recommended
cutting $150 million from the president’s request of
$587.2 million.
The
report says full funding for GPS 3 is premature
given the
procurement and launch schedules of the predecessor systems, GPS 2R-M
and GPS 2F
.
The Senate committee agreed with the president
and House
in funding
a third Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellite but still recommended trimming
$119 million
from the
request for that program
.
Noting that
SBIRS
finally appears to be on track,
the Senate panel sided with the House in slashing funding for the follow-on program, the Alternative Infrared Satellite System. The report
says
fully funding the White House’s $231
million request for the program would be premature.
The Senate bill did not disclose a funding figure for the proposed Space Radar. However, a Senate source said the bill provides no funding for that program.
Once the proposed appropriations bill is passed by the full Senate, selected members of the House and Senate appropriations committees will meet in conference to hammer out a final version of the bill.
