On Dec. 15, the US Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscalyear 2023 (FY23), authorizing $857.9B in funding for the US Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal defense programs. The bill, which was unveiled on Dec. 6, comes after Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) stopgap funding measure in September, shortly before the start of the fiscal year; an additional CR is expected to fund DoD and the other branches of the government until the formal budget is passed. The NDAA authorizes the DoD to spend more on rotary-wing aircraft than the White House had requested in its budget submission in April (see "Washington Report," Vertiflite, July/August 2022). With the FY23 NDAA, Congress permits the Defense Department to purchase 19 more rotorcraft than it had requested, authorizing an increase of $1.07B in procurement spending. The added aircraft include two Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys and two Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallions for the Marine Corps, though Congress cut $21.8M from certain elements of the procurement budget for the CH-53K. The legislation authorizes three additional Boeing CH-47 Chinooks and two Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks for the Army.
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