Defense Authorization Act still must pass the Senate

Staff report

WASHINGTON

Money for upgrading the C-130 Hercules fleet, good news for the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, is two steps away from becoming law.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said he voted for the National Defense Authorization Act that passed in the House of Representatives Thursday that provides money for upgrading the C-130 Hercules fleet.

Ryan supports the C-130 provision, and his staff said they are confident the NDAA will be passed in the Senate in the near future and that President Barack Obama will sign the bill.

U.S. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, say, in separate statements, that an amendment they supported to speed modernization of the C-130 Hercules fleet has been included as a provision in the House-Senate conference report for the NDAA for fiscal 2015.

The NDAA is the comprehensive legislation to authorize the budget authority of the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

If the NDAA for 2015 becomes law, it would support jobs at YARS and Lahm Air National Guard Base in Mansfield by allowing upgrades to their C-130 fleets to meet federal and international standards, Brown said.

The C-130 fleet is the U.S. military’s primary combat-delivery aircraft, and has provided humanitarian assistance, precision airdrop, and tactical airlift missions across the globe for more than four decades.

Portman said he welcomes inclusion of language in the newly drafted NDAA conference bill to provide for C-130 modernization, that he co-sponsored with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, that would allow the Air Force to use alternative programs and funding in addition to the Avionics Modernization Program to upgrade the C-130 aircraft fleet.

Because of Federal Aviation Administration and international airspace regulatory constraints, the fleet will be largely inoperable unless major updates are made by 2020, Portman added.

An amendment co-sponsored by Portman and Brown and others to speed modernization of Ohio’s C-130 fleet was included as a provision in the House-Senate conference report for NDAA.