Appropriators cut $140 million from NGAD in FY-21

摘要

The final version of the fiscal year 2021 defense appropriations bill includes a $140 million cut to the Air Force's Next-Generation Air Dominance program ~ a sign Congress may not yet be sold on the service's Digital Century Series pitch. The funding reduction, once approved by both chambers, would lower the service's FY-21 NGAD budget request from about $1.04 billion to about $900 million. House appropriators in July proposed a $507 million cut and Senate appropriators countered last month with a plan to cut $70 million. Although the $140 million reduction is much less than what the House proposed, it still deals a blow to a development program service acquisition executive Will Roper sees as a model for buying fighter aircraft in the future -- and it comes just months after the service finally completed an acquisition strategy and announced it had flown a full-scale demonstrator.