President Obama signed into law H.R. 933, appropriations legislation that will fund the Defense Department and other government agencies through the remainder of the fiscal year. Obama inked the bill on March 26, announced the White House. His signature came one day before the expiration date of the budget continuing resolution under which DOD has been operating thus far in Fiscal 2013. H.R. 933 includes some $518.1 billion in baseline defense funding, $87.2 billion for overseas contingency operations, and $10.6 billion for military construction. It provides some leeway for the services to reprogram funds across accounts to ease the stresses of budget sequestration.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
