A House proposal to spend $623 million on a new fleet of surveillance aircraft that the Air Force did not want was cut Monday from a final 2019 defense authorization bill.

After two weeks of closed-door debate, the newly unveiled National Defense Authorization Act opted instead for a compromise between the House and Senate that prevents the immediate retirement of the existing Gulf War-era E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS, aircraft.

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