Pentagon budget 2025: US Navy continues F-35 investments, but rephases F/A-XX

by Michael Fabey

The US Navy's FY 2025 budget request continues to fund F-35 aircraft. (US Marine Corps)

The fiscal year (FY) 2025 US Navy (USN) budget requests include USD16.2 billion for the procurement of 75 aircraft, modifications, spares, and support equipment, including 13 F-35Cs, 13 F-35Bs, and 15 CH-53Ks, according to budget documents released on 11 March.

However, the FY 2025 request represents a slight financial retreat for the USN, which requested USD17.3 billion in FY 2024 for 88 aircraft, including 19 F-35Cs and 16 F-35Bs.

In addition, the USN now plans to rephase the development of F/A-XX across the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP), budget documents show.

“We're still committed to the F/A-XX,” Rear Admiral Ben Reynolds, deputy assistant secretary of the navy for budget and director of the USN Fiscal Management Division, said during an 8 March media briefing of the proposed budget.

“We're rephasing as the technology matures,” he said.

The USN plans to buy 82 F-35Cs and 82 F-35Bs across the FYDP, the budget documents show.


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Update: US Department of State approves Basler BT-67 sale to Argentina

by Zach Rosenberg

The BT-67 is no stranger to Antarctica's harsh climate. This picture displays a Basler BT-67 (re-engined DC-3) in polar configuration equipped with snow skids. (Basler)

The US Department of State has approved Argentina's request to purchase Basler BT-67s, support equipment, and training for up to USD143 million, the department announced on 18 April.

“The proposed sale will … [provide] additional capacity for airdrop and airlift operations to service Antarctica during the winter season,” the announcement read. “This will reduce the burden on other airlift assets in Argentina.”

Up to five aircraft are to be purchased in the deal, according to the Department of State, which includes spare engines, ground handling equipment, transport, and personnel training. Basler and the Argentine Ministry of Defense had not responded to Janes questions at the time of publication.

Argentina maintains nearly a dozen research bases on Antarctica, according to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship. Argentina's air force operates several aircraft types capable of operating in Antarctica, including four Lockheed Martin C-130Hs and seven de Havilland DHC-6s.


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Modern Day Marine 2024: NAVAIR plans V-22 improvements to keep tiltrotor flying through 2050

by Zach Rosenberg

The MV-22 (pictured) is to soon receive new engine nacelles to be followed by a refreshed cockpit. Longer-term modifications may include a new drivetrain and perhaps even new wings. (US Navy)

The V-22 is likely to fly through 2050, and upgrades are in the planning process to allow it to reach that age, US Marine Corps (USMC) Colonel Brian Taylor, V-22 programme manager at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), said at the Modern Day Marine 2024 conference in Washington, DC on 30 April.

In the near term, NAVAIR is working to centralise the V-22 fleet in a common configuration and improve maintainability.

“When you purchase aircraft over about a 30-year span, you end up with some configuration challenges, and that's what we're still working through,” Col Taylor said. “You're going to see things like block modifications: how do we get the aircraft to be closer to one another across this wide expanse of airframes that we bought and the different blocks they were in?”


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Leonardo, Textron tout M-346 as ‘no drama' option for navy's next jet trainer

by Jeremiah Cushman

Leonardo has teamed with Textron Aviation Defense to offer the M-346 jet trainer for a US Navy requirement. (Aermacchi Spa)

Leonardo has teamed with Textron Aviation Defense to offer its M-346 jet trainer for the US Navy's (USN's) Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) programme. The service's current jet trainer, the T-45 Goshawk, entered service in 1991 and has experienced numerous technical issues in recent years. In September 2023 the USN released a request for information for the UJTS.

Textron Aviation Defense will serve as the prime contractor for the project, Tommaso Pani, senior vice-president for marketing and strategic campaigns – Leonardo Aircraft Division, told Janes during the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2024 global maritime exposition in National Harbor, Maryland, in April.


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https://www.janes.com/defence-news/industry-headlines/latest/pentagon-budget-2025-us-navy-continues-f-35-investments-but-rephases-fa-xx

The fiscal year (FY) 2025 US Navy (USN) budget requests include USD16.2 billion for the procurement ...

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