Defense Department, San Diego win big in appropriations bill

The military is doing cartwheels over passage of the 2014 defense appropriations bill by Congress. More than $99 billion for procurement in the base and war sections has the Penteagon particularly pleased, according to the publication Defense News.

San Diego should be celebrating. The bill directs the Air Force to purchase 20 unmanned General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper aircraft with $349 million in funding; that is eight more drones than the Air Force had requested. The General Atomics division making the drones is based in San Diego.

Another $40 million will go toward transitioning six Air National Guard squadrons into split operations of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper units by 2020.