As lawmakers negotiated an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, they added hundreds of millions of dollars for projects related to the B-21 bomber and Sentinel ICBM programs.
The three-bill funding package signed into law on Wednesday night gives the Air Force $3.9 billion for military construction projects, some $204 million above the service’s 2026 budget request. And it includes more than $850 million for flexible spending beyond the continuing resolution for at least 11 projects related to the B-21 and Sentinel.
The allocations for military construction show continued bipartisan support for the Air Force’s nuclear modernization efforts, which have seen massive cost overruns on the Sentinel effort and shutdown-stalled talks about accelerating B-21 production.Air Force and Northrop Grumman spokespeople did not respond to questions by press time.
House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the bill will “support the infrastructure of bases across the globe.”
The B-21 projects include a simulator, alert facility, and outdoor shelters for the bomber at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota; a weapons release storage system and a radio-frequency hangar at Whiteman AFB, Missouri; a mission-planning facility and site improvements at Dyess AFB, Texas; and a four-dock depot maintenance hangar to house Raiders and B-52s at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
Ellsworth will be the first B-21 main operating base and location of the Formal Training Unit, while Whiteman and Dyess Air Force Base have been identified as the preferred locations for the bomber’s subsequent main operating bases. The Air Force is planning to buy 100 B-21s by the mid-2030s.
The B-21-related funding marked a historic investment for Dyess, said Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican and the House budget chairman.
“Last night, we successfully passed into law $90.8 million for B-21-related construction projects at Dyess Air Force Base—the largest investment in Dyess history, more than triple last year’s historic $30 million allocation,” Arrington said in a Thursday news release. “These funds will directly support the B-21’s arrival and ensure Dyess remains the tip of the spear for America’s air arsenal.”
Another $130 million will fund work on a Sentinel-related utility corridor at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, part of the effort to replace 7,500 miles of copper wire with newer fiber-optic cables for the missile system.
The appropriations bill also directs the Air Force to look at hardened shelters to better protect aircraft and troops from harsh weather and enemy attack.
“The Committees recognize the importance of shelters that protect aircraft from foreign threats and extreme weather but are concerned about the suitability of open sided shelters for platforms operating out of installations that are at higher risk of aerial attacks and severe weather events,” a joint explanatory statement in the bill said.
Lawmakers asked the service to provide a briefing within 90 days about the costs and feasibility of building hardened structures to protect “strategically valuable” assets or ones that “contain fuel or munitions of which ignition could yield catastrophic” explosions.
The U.S. probe into the feasibility of building hardened aircraft shelters follows Operation Spider Web, the devastating coordinated drone attack on Russia’s strategic bombers this summer. Former defense officials have called the attack a wake-up call about the potential targeting of U.S. aircraft deployed abroad.
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