This week, we’re castigating Congress and the fiscal year, that federal government accounting thing you usually hear around this time of year.

One of the most fundamental responsibilities of the federal government is to set and pass a budget every year. There are two components to this: the bills and the year.

This is a fiscal fiasco. In the 48 years this structure has been in place, Congress has only managed to pass all required appropriations bills four times on time (1977, 1989, 1995, and 1997). Since it's MLB playoff season, that works out to a .083 batting average for all you baseball fans.

To avoid a costly and disruptive government shutdown, Congress passes what’s known as a continuing resolution. As the name implies, a CR permits the government to continue to spend, obligate, and operate as before. This sounds painless, but it's not.

A CR freezes current program obligation rates and stalls defense contracts and new programs, which is not good when the Pentagon is trying to modernize its force and scale munitions production.

This week, Congress approved a 3-month CR to keep the government open until December 20th, the 136th time they used a CR since 1997—the last time they passed a budget on time. That’s a 27-year losing streak. Even worse is the time of these 136 CRs add up to: out of the past 15 years, almost 5 years has been under a CR.

Because of how a CR works, this 3-month punt forces the Pentagon to overfund programs it no longer needs, blocks hundreds of new capability programs, stalls $4.3B in research and development projects, and delays 135 new construction projects totaling nearly $10B.

The issue is far from over. Expect a post-election political fervor with a high chance of another CR in December to kick the budget into 2025. The clock is ticking, though.

If the 12 appropriations bills aren’t signed into law by April 30th, the Department of Defense will get hit with a punitive across-the-board $45B budget cut due to the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

L3Harris launched the production of 166 Viper Shield EW kits for F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft.

TRIVIA

On this day in 1990, Lockheed’s YF-22 made its first flight. This would go on to win the competition and become the F-22 stealth fighter that flies today. What was the YF-22 called initially?

A) Lightning II
B) Raptor
C) Super Eagle
D) Super Hornet

The Air Force buys aircraft by the pound. Not literally, but a recent panel on Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) discussed the historical correlation between aircraft size and cost ($4-6k per pound). Industry is working to get CCA down to $1K per pound (i.e., a 4k pound drone would cost $4m), but the sensors are the elephant in the room.

Aurora Flight Sciences released a video of its Liberty Lifter concept. It’s part of a DARPA program to build a full-scale X-plane of a Wing-in Ground (WIG) effect cargo seaplane that’s the size of a C-17.

“Big Sexy” is gone. The Air Force’s last KC-10 tanker went to the boneyard this week, ending 44 years of service. Known as “Big Sexy,” the KC-10 carried almost 2X the gas of the KC-135 and almost as much cargo as a C-17. They are being replaced by the KC-46.

The UAE was designated a Major Defense Partner by the US. This doesn't have a formal legal basis like a NATO ally or a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA), but it does underscore the UAE's importance for US national security in the Middle East. The title carries weight for stronger military cooperation and preferential access to US defense technology.

They Said It
“Sometimes you find these companies, and they say they’re going to use one drop of blood and they’re going to revolutionize the whole world, and then they grow up to be Theranos.”

— C. Mark Brinkley, General Atomics spokesman, chucking a huge spear at CCA competitor Anduril

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ANSWER
A. The aircraft was given the unofficial name "Lightning II" after Lockheed's P-38 Lightning. The Air Force officially named the production F-22 the Raptor, but the “Lightning II” name would live on—Lockheed Martin’s F-35 received that name in 2006.