House and Senate defense authorizers have reportedly agreed in conference to authorize funds for the General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 engine in Fiscal 2010, going against the urgings of the White House to kill the engine project and proceed with only Pratt & Whitney’s F135 for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Hill reported this Tuesday, citing several sources familiar with this decision as the conference reaches its final stages. According to the newspaper, the conferees settled on approving $560 million for the F136 program in 2010, with these funds being in addition to the baseline F-35 budget and not drawn from it. This is the same amount that the House had included in its version of the defense authorization bill. The Senate had not included funds for the F136 in its version of the policy bill.
The U.S. continued to move a significant amount of airpower toward the Middle East in recent days as talks to forge a nuclear deal with Iran hung in the balance. Flight tracking data indicate there was unusually heavy movement of dozens of fighter jets and other assets that might be…
