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Wright-Patt could get budget boost for UAV development

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By John Nolan and Jack Torry, Staff Writers Updated 11:32 PM Monday, February 1, 2010

President Obama’s defense spending proposals included some good news for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The budget would bolster development of unmanned aerial vehicles, which are a focus of research, development and support at the base, said Michael Gessel, a Washington-based vice president of the Dayton Development Coalition.

“A lot of the unmanned aerial vehicle research will flow through Wright-Patterson,” he said.

The Pentagon also wants to streamline the process of granting security clearances to new government employees, Gessel said. That is a key concern for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patt, which assesses the capabilities of U.S. foes and wants to hire a new generation of intelligence analysts.

Overall, the budget could increase defense spending by about 3 percent over the current year.

In a perennial debate, the budget also seeks to end development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s alternative engine program, which provides jobs at General Electric’s plant in suburban Cincinnati.

Federal budget by the numbers

$3.83 trillion: Total spending for fiscal 2011, the most ever
$1.56 trillion: Total deficit, also a record; last year’s $1.41 trillion gap was the previous high
$678 billion: Amount raised over 10 years by boosting taxes on families making more than $250,000.
$250 billion: Savings estimated over 10 years from a proposed three-year freeze on spending for many domestic government agencies
$159.3 billion: 2011 supplementary appropriation for the military to boost strategy to deal with terrorist threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan
$100 billion: Money to create new jobs, which includes tax cuts on businesses to encourage hiring and investment in infrastructure and energy projects