House appropriators seek to bump Army aircraft funding by $400 million

House appropriators would increase Army aircraft procurement funding for fiscal year 2022 by $409 million beyond the Biden administration's budget request under legislation that passed a subcommittee today.

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee included $3.2 billion for aircraft procurement in its proposed FY-22 appropriations bill, which was released yesterday. The Army requested $2.8 billion, but either figure would be a decrease from the $4.1 billion Congress appropriated for Army aircraft procurement in FY-21.

A $212 million boost for the UH/HH-60M Black Hawk above the FY-22 budget request leads the committee's increases for aircraft procurement. The boost would bring Black Hawk procurement funding for FY-22 to $842 million.

The committee added $170 million in funding for the CH-47F Block II Chinook cargo helicopter to the budget. The Army's FY-22 budget request only included funding for the special forces version, the MH-47G, but the service included funding for the CH-47F in the list of unfunded requirements it sent Congress this month.

The committee's appropriations bill would match the Army's request to fund the remanufacture of 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters, although the committee used a lower funding level than the Army sought. The committee would appropriate $494 million for the Apache remanufactures, while the Army requested $504 million.