Congressional Actions

Enactment of the FY 1998 Budget
Several Congressional committees with oversight over airborne reconnaissance addressed many UAV-related issues during the Authorization and Appropriations processes. The approved FY 1998 UAV budgets are tabulated below, with specific issues discussed in the numbered notes that follow.

Notes on Congressional Program/Budget Actions

  1. Provides $45 million for “the continued development, testing and evaluation of Outrider.” (Also rescinded $20 million of FY 1997 funding.) The Army Secretary is to provide an acquisition strategy to the Appropriations Committees after user testing and evaluation are complete (see p. 27).
  2. CSD not funded for FY 1998. Funding for heavy fuel engine development denied. Other common support programs funded separately: MSAG in the TCS line, and other activities under DARO’s Advanced Technologies line.
  3. Funds added to the TCS line to procure Predator assets for TCS integration.
  4. Funds added to continue VTOL UAV demonstrations and to begin an advanced UAV technology program (that should include a stopped-rotor, high-speed, reaction-driven concept) (see p. 11).
  5. HAE UAV ACTD platforms were fully funded. A separate initiative to develop a SIGINT payload for Global Hawk was denied.
  6. Per request, DoD will conduct a study of Moving Target Indication (MTI) on DarkStar.
  7. A $9 million reduction was directed to other items in the HAE CGS line, as prior-year funds “are available for continued testing” of the HAE CGS itself.

Additional Budget Impacts
An additional, undistributed FY 1998 budget reduction will further affect the numbers above and in the program description pages that follow. Allocations of this reduction are still being determined at press time.

Summary of FY 1998 Budget Actions
While the redirection of the Tactical UAV program line involves both funding and program changes, many of which parallel current DoD determinations, the Congress has continued its overall support for UAVs as systems that will play increasingly significant roles in military operations of the future. Generally sustained funding for FY 1998 programs attests to the Congress’s continued interest in, and encouragement of, UAVs’ expanding utility in pursuit of our national goals.