Near Space Airship Fate Rests With Defense Budget By Jeremy Singer Space News Staff Writer 09 August 2006 - 06:42 am ET
"The U.S. House of Representatives funded the full $16.3 million request for the effort in its version of the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act, which passed the House in June. The Senate Appropriations Committee, however, has recommended denying the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s entire $16.3 million budget request for the program in 2007. The bill is currently awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
The House and Senate will address the issue when they meet to resolve differences between their bills later this year."
And last couple paragraphs.:
"The HAA is currently expected to be demonstrated in flight for the first time around 2008; ISIS is scheduled for a reduced scale prototype flight in 2009, with plans for a full-scale demonstration to be determined afterwards, Wechsberg said.
Like ISIS, the HAA also is encountering some resistance in Congress, where members of the House and Senate have both moved to trim the $40.1 million request for the program in 2007 in order to steer funding towards other missile defense efforts. The House version of the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act cuts the request for the High Altitude Airship by $20 million, while the Senate version of the bill reduces it by $25 million."
Thus, one can observe that due to understanding that SBInet will not be requiring an immediate or proposed need for a stratospheric platform in its objectives, as noted by the recent Boeing and congressional confirmations, that Lockheed's HAA, as well as Worldwide Aeros platform, stand to lose significant funding. This is what places Sanswire on better ground in its initiative with the airship, because it allows them a competitive advantage due to never requiring government funding.
But we shall see how Congress makes its decision and have a better understanding then.
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